My name is Lance Parker from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I was a student of the great Sonny Stitt who he gave me his horn in 1978 his Selmer Mark 7 tenor saxophone which I still play to this day he also gave me his 1938 buescher Big B alto saxophone that I still have also I used to travel from when I was 17 until I was 22 years old I would drive on the weekends and go study with Sonny Stitt Columbus Cincinnati Buffalo Rochester Cleveland Pittsburgh and I would stay in the hotel with him and then get up in the mornings and go to the conference room at the hotel and study saxophone with him I was on the stage with many greats Jimmy Smith Kenny Clarke as you can see the great guitar player Kenny Burrell I was also on the stage with slide Hampton Don Patterson Groove Holmes Billy Cobham Louis Hayes and many more Sunny would always bring me up the last half-hour of the set and I would play with all the greats he taught me how to get this big fat fluffy sub tones like Coleman Hawkins in the lower register and how to play Beautiful different patterns an improvisational skills one thing you always told me when you're improvising always keep the melody in your head don't go off on a tangent somewhere sound all crazy keep the melody in your head and those cords structures of the melody and that's how you improvise I never forgot that so I guess you called me an old school saxophone player myself that's born in 1957 I studied at Carnegie Mellon four and a half years with the great classical saxophone player Jerome Levine then I went and I studied with the great Nathan Davis at Pitt University had about eight to ten lessons off of Jane's Moody who also taught me circular breathing but I will never forget the days and nights with Sonny Stitt in the clubs and playing alongside him I remember when I was 22 years old he said to be after a gig it was at the High Chaparral in Columbus Ohio we're going home in the taxi and he looked at me and he said Lance you don't have to be afraid of nobody you can stand toe-to-toe with anybody now after we went back home to Michigan to his wife his daughter and a son I got a package in the mail it was mated a trophy company with a big note in a brass plaque and it said to Lance Parker my true friend ingrate student Sonny Stitt I still have it on my mantle sitting today and I'll be 65 years old in July thank you sonny for all the great memories with all the greatest musicians in the world I'll say I forgot to say I played with Ray Brown and Abraham laboriel 2 great bass players in fact Ray Brown went to Schenley High School in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and went to high school with my father who was a trumpet player great great memories with some of the greatest Jazz musicians in the world and I was up on stage with all of them God bless you sonny Stitt I still play gigs to this day and every time I get on that stage I think of you the great saxophone players Sonny Stitt
I was probably in the audience. Great to see this video (I was just 18, and was discovering jazz); I just precise it was the 1978 festival edition, not the 1977 one.
Fat Head so good , his lines are so cool. Very underrated player
I got to see David "Fathead" Newman with Curtis Fuller at Bushnell Park in Downtown Hartford, CT some years back. What a show!!!
Always great when Burrell plays Ellington.
Great!!!!!
My name is Lance Parker from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I was a student of the great Sonny Stitt who he gave me his horn in 1978 his Selmer Mark 7 tenor saxophone which I still play to this day he also gave me his 1938 buescher Big B alto saxophone that I still have also I used to travel from when I was 17 until I was 22 years old I would drive on the weekends and go study with Sonny Stitt Columbus Cincinnati Buffalo Rochester Cleveland Pittsburgh and I would stay in the hotel with him and then get up in the mornings and go to the conference room at the hotel and study saxophone with him I was on the stage with many greats Jimmy Smith Kenny Clarke as you can see the great guitar player Kenny Burrell I was also on the stage with slide Hampton Don Patterson Groove Holmes Billy Cobham Louis Hayes and many more Sunny would always bring me up the last half-hour of the set and I would play with all the greats he taught me how to get this big fat fluffy sub tones like Coleman Hawkins in the lower register and how to play Beautiful different patterns an improvisational skills one thing you always told me when you're improvising always keep the melody in your head don't go off on a tangent somewhere sound all crazy keep the melody in your head and those cords structures of the melody and that's how you improvise I never forgot that so I guess you called me an old school saxophone player myself that's born in 1957 I studied at Carnegie Mellon four and a half years with the great classical saxophone player Jerome Levine then I went and I studied with the great Nathan Davis at Pitt University had about eight to ten lessons off of Jane's Moody who also taught me circular breathing but I will never forget the days and nights with Sonny Stitt in the clubs and playing alongside him I remember when I was 22 years old he said to be after a gig it was at the High Chaparral in Columbus Ohio we're going home in the taxi and he looked at me and he said Lance you don't have to be afraid of nobody you can stand toe-to-toe with anybody now after we went back home to Michigan to his wife his daughter and a son I got a package in the mail it was mated a trophy company with a big note in a brass plaque and it said to Lance Parker my true friend ingrate student Sonny Stitt I still have it on my mantle sitting today and I'll be 65 years old in July thank you sonny for all the great memories with all the greatest musicians in the world I'll say I forgot to say I played with Ray Brown and Abraham laboriel 2 great bass players in fact Ray Brown went to Schenley High School in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and went to high school with my father who was a trumpet player great great memories with some of the greatest Jazz musicians in the world and I was up on stage with all of them God bless you sonny Stitt I still play gigs to this day and every time I get on that stage I think of you the great saxophone players Sonny Stitt
Sure pal
Sherman Ferguson!!!!!
This tune never sounds corny or dated when guys like this are playing it..
Man,even the cameraman is grinning and grooving.
Splendid! Thanks for posting :)
thanks!
Great footage thanks.
I was probably in the audience. Great to see this video (I was just 18, and was discovering jazz); I just precise it was the 1978 festival edition, not the 1977 one.
You so lucky ! I don't get jealous a lot but you get me going ! haha.
Billy Strayhorn's composition!
Maestro ;)
The pocket is deep...