Sonny Stitt & Don Patterson - Legends Of Acid Jazz Vol. 2 (1968) [2006]

Two-fer CD reissue combines two 1968 sessions, both featuring Stitt and Patterson, that were recorded on consecutive days (September 23-24, 1968), although one was issued under Patterson's name and the other under Stitt's. The first six songs were issued as the Patterson LP Funk You!, on which Patterson leads a date that also has Sonny Stitt and Charles McPherson on saxes and Pat Martino on guitar. The other players get about as much space as Patterson, and as 1960s jazz with organ goes, this is pretty straight-ahead and boppish, rather than soul-jazz (as so much organ jazz from that decade was).

For the bop factor, listen especially to the cover of Sonny Rollins' "Airegin," on which Martino in particular shines. Patterson does get in a more soulful mood on his composition "Little Angie," which has an elegiac mood somewhat similar to occasional slow instrumentals cut by Booker T. & the MG's during that period. The other eight songs were issued as the Stitt LP Soul Electricity!, an album that got its name because, for this session, Stitt plugged his alto and tenor saxophones into a Varitone attachment. What came out, though, was not fusion by any means, but a pretty straight-ahead session that found Stitt his usual competent self. The program is actually on the conservative side, leaning toward standards. Stitt's quartet is rounded out by Don Patterson on organ, Billy Butler on guitar, and Billy James on drums. This isn't the most logical package – Stitt's half is more straight-ahead in flavor and, more importantly, neither album fits too well into the soul-jazz or acid jazz category – but for fans of either artist, the material is worth hearing.



Tracks:

1 Ratio and Proportion (Stitt) 4:53
2 Airegin (Rollins) 4:31
3 Little Angie (Patterson) 6:14
4 My Man String (Patterson) 4:43
5 Funk in 3/4 (Patterson) 5:23
6 It's You or No One (Cahn, Styne) 6:03
7 All the Things You Are (Hammerstein, Kern) 5:58
8 Lover Man (Davis, Ramirez, Sherman) 3:25
9 P.S. I Love You (Jenkins, Mercer) 5:35
10 Stella by Starlight (Washington, Young) 5:24
11 Bye Bye Blackbird (Dixon, Henderson) 5:33
12 Over the Rainbow (Arlen, Harburg) 3:57
13 Candy (David, Kramer, Whitney) 5:50
14 Strike up the Band (Gershwin, Gershwin) 3:30

Personnel:

[# 1-6] Don Patterson "Funk You !" (Prestige 7613)
Don Patterson - org
Sonny Stitt - as & ts
Charles McPherson - as
Pat Martino - g
Billy James - dr
Recorded in New York ; September 24, 1968

[# 7-14] Sonny Stitt "Soul Electicity !" (Prestige 7635)
Sonny Stitt - as & ts (var)
Don Patterson - org
Billy Buttler - g
Billy James - dr
Recorded in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey ; September 23, 1968