Saxophonist Edward ‘Sonny’ Stitt was born in Boston but grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. The son of musicians, he studied piano before receiving saxophone lessons locally from Big Nick Nicholas and Wardell Gray, both of them later famous soloists. Stitt quickly assimilated the bebop style, playing in the 1940s in Billy Eckstine’s big band and Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet and orchestra.
Associating with many leading figures in early modern jazz and now playing tenor and baritone saxes along with alto, he recorded under his own name and formed occasional groups with fellow saxophonist Gene Ammons. In 1960–1 he replaced John Coltrane in Miles Davis’ quintet. Stitt toured widely in many countries with various groups in the 1960s and 1970s and remained busy as a freelance soloist.
A highly competitive player, he loved musical duels with fellow saxophonists, revelling in his technical excellence and thorough mastery of the bebop idiom. But he resented recurring charges that his style was so close to Charlie Parker’s that he lacked originality, and argued with justification that he played his own way, while never denying his huge debt to the bop pioneers.
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