This obscure LP finds Sonny Stitt sticking to tenor and playing a typical set filled with blues, standards and riff-filled originals. Organist Charles Kynard made his recording debut during this session, guitarist Ray Crawford and drummer Doug Sides are strong assets and the two versions of the emotional title cut are highpoints.

Although Joel Dorn's 32 Jazz label mostly concentrates on repackaging reissues from the Muse catalog, there have been some important discoveries. This 1998 CD has a previously unreleased Sonny Stitt club appearance that took place in San Francisco's Keystone Korner in September 1981. It is a special all-star concert in which Stitt splits his time between tenor and alto and is joined by pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Herbie Lewis, drummer Billy Higgins, and (on a few numbers) vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, altoist Richie Cole, and John Handy on alto and tenor. Stitt, a master of the bebop vocabulary, was not an innovator, but he was a fiery competitor who could blow most musicians off the stand when he chose to. In this case, he had a lot of respect for Cole and Handy, but still played at his best, just in case…

At first glance, it's easy to see why this late-period Sonny Stitt date could have fallen through the cracks. Recorded at Bubba's Jazz Restaurant in Florida on November 11, 1981, one year before the tenor saxophonist passed away, the set list depends on several pleasant yet rudimentary standards that these musicians could play in their sleep. Fortunately, the majority of these cuts find Stitt with fellow tenor man Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, who more than hold their own with a combined spontaneity and playfulness that are anything but boring. These 11 tracks are spirited, straight-ahead bebop with excellent versions of "Oh, Lady Be Good," "What's New," "There Is No Greater Love," "Lester Leaps In," Stitt's original "Sonny's Blues," and the Miles Davis tune "Four." The first-rate rhythm section alongside Stitt, "Lockjaw," and "Sweets" consists of Eddie Higgins on piano, Donn Mast on bass, and Duffy Jackson on drums.

Deftly handling the alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone, bebop giant Sonny Stitt is heard to perfection here on a variety of early-'50s dates. Stitt not only shows off his patented speed throughout, but he goes a long way in dispelling criticisms of him being all fire and no grace. The 16-track disc kicks off with four tight, Latin-tinged swingers featuring an octet that includes trumpeter Joe Newman and timbales player Humberto Morales. Switching to piano quartet mode for the bulk of the disc, Stitt ranges effortlessly from frenetic blasts ("Cherokee") to golden-hued ballads ("Imagination"). Capping off the set with four bonus cuts featuring the likes of Gene Ammons and Junior Mance, Stitt delivers one of the top sets of performances from the late bebop era.

What you see is what you get, an excellent little compilation of the various faces of soul-jazz as presented by the Verve label with their amazing array of artists from Hugh Masekela to Willie Bobo and Herbie Mann on the one hand, and Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks (in an outstanding reading of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man") the Heath Brothers, and Teddy Edwards on the other. The track list is wonderfully varied, too: there's a smoking version of Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" by Masekela, a pair by Jimmy Smith, and a big band – a new entry by the acid jazz group the James Taylor Quartet, but they get it deep; and Wynton Kelly goes deep into soul and blues with "Escapade." Anyway you cut it, it comes out great.

Arguably never quite in the top league alongside the likes of Charlie Parker (his great influence), Lester Young, Benny Carter, Ben Webster and John Coltrane, nevertheless the great alto saxophonist Sonny Stitt is a welcome addition to our “classic album” series. Across four wonderfully diverse albums we find Sonny amongst four jazz quartets all discovering something new about each other along their musical journey. “Saxophone Supremacy” finds Sonny alongside Lou Levy on piano, Leroy Vinegar on bass and Mel Lewis on drums. For “Personal Appearance” he is joined by Bobby Timmins on piano, Edgar Willis on bass and Kenny Dennis on drums. “The Battle Of Birdland” recorded one Sunday night at New York’s famed Birdland club, Sonny teams up with fellow sax titan Eddie Davis for a supercharged blowing session alongside Doc Bagby and Charlie Rice…

Sonny Stitt was in great form in the early '70s, and the rhythm section on this release is excellent: pianist Duke Jordan, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Roy Brooks. The problem is that trumpeter Joe Newman is not quite up to par, and Stitt constantly cuts his own solos short to make room for Newman. While there are some good spots for Stitt's tenor and alto, his truncated improvisations are ultimately frustrating, especially compared to his classic recordings from the era.

The focus of this exciting, if imperfect, CD is a 1973 reunion of Gene "Jug" Ammons and Sonny Stitt, who were responsible for some of the most famous tenor saxophone battles of the 1940s and early '50s. When the two locked horns, it was musical sportsmanship at its finest. Jug and Stitt had a mutual respect for one another, and their battles were the essence of friendly competition. Some die-hard beboppers might be disappointed to learn that God Bless Jug and Sonny (which was recorded live in Baltimore in 1973 but went unreleased until 2001) isn't all that competitive - the saxmen don't try to relive their legendary cutting contests of the 1940s and early '50s…

This session is a real rarity, for it teams Sonny Stitt (mostly playing tenor) and altoist Richie Cole (along with pianist Jack Wilson, bassist Ed Gaston, and drummer Allan Turnbull) for the first and only time. Stitt and Cole inspire each other on the seven boppish selections and, even if there aren't any surprises, the heated exchanges make this LP worth searching for.

This LP starts off with one of the underrated gems of the 1960s, an exciting match-up of tenors Sonny Stitt and Paul Gonsalves. Other than the brief throwaway "Theme from Lord of the Flies" (producer Bob Thiele's idea), this is very much a jam session, with "Salt and Pepper" being a heated midtempo blues and the two competitive tenors stretching out on "S'posin'" and a lengthy "Perdido." Actually, the most memorable selection from the date is the one on which Stitt switches to alto, "Stardust." His beautiful playing behind Gonsalves' warm melody statement raises the session to the classic level.

This encounter between tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt (who doubles on tenor and alto) is a true classic. Ammons and Stitt teamed together many times over a three-decade period, including co-leading a band during 1950-1952, but Boss Tenors is arguably their finest recording. Backed by pianist John Houston, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer George Brown, Ammons and Stitt battle it out on "There Is No Greater Love," Ammons' "The One Before This," "Autumn Leaves," "Blues Up and Down," and Stitt's "Counter Clockwise." This is competitive bebop at its best, with Stitt and Ammons proving to be equal matches. Essential music for all jazz collections.

Sonny Stitt (who sticks reissue to tenor here) meets up with organist Brother Jack McDuff (along with guitarist Eddie Diehl, drummer Art Taylor, and Ray Barretto on congas) for a spirited outing. Two standards - "All of Me" and "Time After Time") - are performed with a variety of blues-based originals and the music always swings in a soulful, boppish way.

Sonny Stitt was so closely identified with Charlie Parker on the alto that even when he played tenor, his style was of the quicker-than-lightning variety with all the notes he could pack in a phrase in his soloing. Which makes listening to him, for all but the most ardent bebop fans, an endurance contest no matter how agile he was. Here, in a 1956 session with Ray Brown and Jo and Jimmy Jones backing him, there is some tempering of the maelstrom that Stitt conjured up on every bandstand. Half the program is ballads, including "The Stars Fell on Alabama," a gorgeous "Body & Soul," and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"…