Sonny Simmons: Trans-Sonic, The Iridium, New York, New York
In long twisting and spinning lines,
with a true personal synthesis of the most important developments in jazz
music, Sonny Simmons distinguishes musical experience and knowledge of
a rare quality. Saxophonist alto and double reedist on English horn, Simmons’s
fingers fly up and down the register at a speed he compares with “nuclear
fission energy” and “laser sounds.” Simmons knows how to
preach the magic of jazz and gain the attention of all listeners, no matter
what their musical references are, captivating his audience with strong
attacks and melodies, with singing sounds and muscular phrasings. He is
exploding all barriers of categorization with his own original sound structured
by call-and-response patterns dotted with short riffs, while also spontaneously
reaching more lyrical tones rooted in the blues and moving on to freer
tempos. Actively participating in awakening a resurgent interest in jazz,
Sonny Simmons is expressing, with his own language, the feelings of a
modern Renaissance man, emphasizing the parallels between art and physics
through traveling sounds in space, time, and light.
Performing this winter in New York, Simmons was back for a week at the
Iridium after a burning concert last summer. He was accompanied by Reggie
Workman on bass, Travis Shook on piano, and Cindy Blackman on drums. The
Simmons Quartet was scheduled opposite the David Murray Quintet. Their
respective styles gave the audience a good demonstration of the diversity
Jazz is about now, featuring Simmons as a true creative composer versus
David Murray as a more commercially oriented musician.
Recently touring in Europe, jazz amateurs and aficionados were packing
the house everywhere he appeared, from Paris, where he performed in a
quartet with Jack Gregg on bass, Katy Roberts on piano, and Sunny Murray
on drums, to the south of France in Toulouse, performing in a trio with
a local rhythm section including Akim Bournane on bass and Christian Salut
on drums. The most elating dates occurred in Austria and Germany in the
context of a tour arranged by the talented drummer and composer Doug Hammond,
as part of the “Doug Hammond Project Featuring the Legendary Sonny
Simmons,” accompanied by Hammond’s protégé, a
young promising bassist from Slovenia named Thomaz Grom. The avant-garde
jazz public responded with standing ovations in Linz, Munich, Nickelsdorf,
Wupperthal, and Freiburg. The trio performed most of Simmons’ compositions
with a triangular force that became stronger as the tour evolved, sounding
different and more creative every night.
By juxtaposing and alternating harmonic patterns at a fast speed, Simmons
sometimes sounds like two saxophonists playing simultaneously. It is a
stunning feeling as he stretches out his fat alto sound and explores all
possibilities of exploiting his appliance.
With an astonishing and sometimes overwhelming energy Simmons is back
at the height of his fame; after leaving the scene for over 15 years,
his old records nevertheless remain rare jewels in all jazz collectors’
libraries, as some of them ran out of print. Today both vinyls, Staying
On The Watch and Music Of The Spheres, ESP recordings, are available on
CD through the German label ZYX. Also available are Firebirds on Contemporary
Records, Backwoods Suite on Westwind, Global Jungle on the label Deal
With It and his last recording, Ancient Ritual, on Qwest-Warner, recorded
with Charnett Moffet on bass and his son Zarak Simmons on drums. As a
side man, two recordings with Eric Dolphy are available, Iron Man and
Music Matador on the Affinity label, as well as Journey To Zoar with Prince
Lasha by Enja Recordings.
When playing in clubs, Simmons rarely needs a microphone as his powerful
tone would bury the sound of the rhythm section. While most saxophonists
actually use a P.A. system, he doesn’t. He truly improvises and never
repeats the same phrases night after night. Sonny Simmons says his “reservoir
is endless.” Look for him on stage in the U.S. and in Europe and
in the near future on a new recording entitled Magnificent Ruin with Qwest-Warner.
Geraldine Postel
New York, New York
1996