Sonny Simmons - Last Man Standing (2007)

This is the latest in a series of albums under saxophonist Sonny Simmons' name put out by the Norwegian Jazzaway label; a further instalment in the documentation of an abundantly creative artist, but one who only relatively recently has started to receive the kind of exposure he deserves.
The setting here is a straight-ahead one and Simmons thrives in it. In the company of a rhythm section that does everything a listener might ask of it, and a whole lot more besides, Simmons puts himself across in a program consisting of his original compositions and Tadd Dameron's "Theme For Ernie," the inclusion of which indicates the leader's appreciation of a tradition goes back a whole lot further than a lot of people might imagine.

The same might be said of Simmons' grasp of the musical forms outside of the area he's most readily associated with. "Janet's Mood" is a case in point, not least because its ballad form serves as a vehicle for Simmons' acidic lyricism, happily purged of false sentiment. Pianist Anders Aarum shows here his mastery of a kind of fractured chromaticism that's entirely his own at the same time as he evokes the spirit of prime McCoy Tyner.