Sonny Fortune
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
alto
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
saxophonist and flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
. He also plays soprano saxophone
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
, tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
.
Biography
After moving to New York City in 1967 he recorded and appeared live with drummer Elvin JonesElvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
's group. In 1968 he was a member of Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
's band. He subsequently performed with singer Leon Thomas
Leon Thomas
Amos Leon Thomas Jr was an American avant garde jazz singer from East St. Louis, Illinois.Thomas studied music at Tennessee State University. In the 1960s he was a vocalist for Count Basie and others....
, and with pianist McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
(1971–73).
In 1974 he replaced Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman is an American saxophonist and flautist. In June 2010, he received a NEA Jazz Masters lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.-Biography:...
in Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
's ensemble, remaining until spring 1975, when he was succeeded by Sam Morrison. Fortune was the first alto player to record with Miles since Cannonball Adderley on Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959...
in 1959, and he can be heard on the albums Big Fun, Get Up With It
Get Up with It
Get Up with It is an album collecting tracks recorded between 1970 and 1974 by Miles Davis. Released on November 22, 1974 as a double LP, it was Davis' last studio album before five years of retirement from music....
, Agharta
Agharta (album)
Agharta is an album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1975. Both Agharta and Pangaea were recorded on the same day in Osaka, Japan...
and Pangaea
Pangaea (album)
Pangaea is a double album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1975. Both Pangaea and Agharta were recorded on the same day in Osaka, Japan...
, the last two recorded live in Japan.
He joined Adderley's brother, Nat
Nat Adderley
Nathaniel Adderley was an American jazz cornet and trumpet player who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley....
, after his brief tenure with Davis, and then went on to form his own group in June 1975, recording two albums for the A&M Horizon
Horizon Records
Horizon Records was started as a folk and blues record label by Dave Hubert in 1960.It was originally distributed by World Pacific Records. When Vee-Jay Records acquired World Pacific in 1963, it also took over the distribution of Horizon....
label. During the 1990s, he recorded several acclaimed albums for the Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
label. He has also performed with Roy Brooks
Roy Brooks
Roy Brooks was an American hard bop jazz drummer.-Biography:Brooks was born in Detroit and drummed since childhood. He was an outstanding varsity basketball player as a teenager and was offered a scholarship to the Detroit Institute of Technology; he attended the school for three semesters and...
, Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Rabih Abou Khalil, Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
, Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
, Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz is an American alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist.Bartz graduated from the Baltimore City College high school and The Juilliard School...
, Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson was an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.-Biography:...
and Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, as well as appearing on the live album The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux
The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux
The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux is a live recording made at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival. It featured the Don Ellis Orchestra together with the Average White Band and guest musicians...
(1977).
As leader
- 1974: Long Before Our Mothers Cried (Strata-East RecordsStrata-East RecordsStrata-East Records is an American record label specialising in jazz which was founded in 1971 by Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver.Gil Scott-Heron recorded his 1974 album Winter in America with Brian Jackson for Strata-East. "The Bottle" featured on the album, was a popular single...
) - 1975: Awakening (A&M/Horizon RecordsHorizon RecordsHorizon Records was started as a folk and blues record label by Dave Hubert in 1960.It was originally distributed by World Pacific Records. When Vee-Jay Records acquired World Pacific in 1963, it also took over the distribution of Horizon....
) - 1976: Waves of Dreams (A&M/Horizon)
- 1977: Serengeti Minstrel
- 1978: Infinity Is
- 1979: With Sound Reason
- 1992: Laying It Down
- 1993: Monk's Mood
- 1994: Four In One
- 1995: A Better Understanding
- 1996: From Now On
- 2000: In the Spirit of John Coltrane
- 2003: Continuum
- 2007: You And The Night And The Music
- 2009: Last Night at Sweet Rhythm
As sideman
With Rabih Abou-KhalilRabih Abou-Khalil
-Life:Rabih Abou-Khalil grew up in Beirut and moved to Munich, Germany during the civil war in 1978. He lives part-time in Munich and part-time in the South of France with his wife and two children.-Music:...
- Al-Jadida (1990)
With Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Get Up with ItGet Up with ItGet Up with It is an album collecting tracks recorded between 1970 and 1974 by Miles Davis. Released on November 22, 1974 as a double LP, it was Davis' last studio album before five years of retirement from music....
(1974) - Big Fun (1975)
- PangaeaPangaea (album)Pangaea is a double album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1975. Both Pangaea and Agharta were recorded on the same day in Osaka, Japan...
(1975) - AghartaAgharta (album)Agharta is an album recorded by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1975. Both Agharta and Pangaea were recorded on the same day in Osaka, Japan...
(1975)
With Alphonse Mouzon
Alphonse Mouzon
Alphonse Mouzon is a well-known jazz-fusion drummer and percussionist, and the Chairman/CEO of Tenacious Records. He also composes, arranges and produces, as well as acts...
- The Essence of MysteryThe Essence of MysteryThe Essence of Mystery is the debut album by American jazz drummer Alphonse Mouzon recorded in 1972 and released in 1973 on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(1972)
With McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
- SaharaSahara (McCoy Tyner album)Sahara is a 1972 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his first to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in January 1972 and features performances by Tyner with Sonny Fortune, Calvin Hill, and Alphonse Mouzon. The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick states "Tyner would go on to create...
(1972)
With Mal Waldron
Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
- Crowd SceneCrowd SceneCrowd Scene is an album by jazz pianist Mal Waldron recorded in 1989 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "there are some rambling moments on these lengthy performances, both of which clock in at over 25 minutes...
(Soul Note, 1989) - Where Are You?Where Are You? (Mal Waldron album)Where Are You? is an album by jazz pianist Mal Waldron recorded in 1989 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Ron Wynn awarded the album 3 stars stating "Mal Waldron's mellow and sentimental side is tapped on this session.....
(Soul Note, 1989)
Filmography
- Elvin Jones: Jazz Machine (2008) with Sonny Fortune, Ravi ColtraneRavi ColtraneRavi Coltrane is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo , guitarist David Gilmore and trumpeter Ralph Alessi....
, Willie Pickens and Chip JacksonChip JacksonChip Jackson is an American jazz double bass player. He has played in trios with Billy Taylor and Elvin Jones.-References:... - Europafest: Jazz Highlights (2008) with Mike SternMike SternMike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
, Sonny Fortune, Bob BergBob BergBob Berg was a jazz saxophonist originally from Brooklyn, New York City. He started his musical education at the age of six when he began studying classical piano. He began playing the saxophone at the age of thirteen. Bob Berg was a Juilliard graduate influenced heavily by the late 1964–67 period...
, Sun RaSun RaSun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
, Archie SheppArchie SheppArchie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Bill FrisellBill FrisellWilliam Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
, and more
External links
- SonnyFortune.com official home page