Huey "Sonny" Simmons is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz musician.

He grew up in Oakland

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where he began playing the english horn. At age 16 he took up the alto saxophone, which became his primary instrument. He is one of the few jazz musicians to play the english horn.

In the early 1960s he worked with Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

 and Prince Lasha

Prince Lasha

William B. Lawsha, better known as Prince Lasha , was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist....

 before recording his own LPs for ESP-Disk

ESP-Disk

ESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...

.

As leader

• 1963: The Cry!
• 1966: Staying On the Watch
• 1966: Music From the Spheres
• 1967: Firebirds
  Firebirds (album)
  Firebirds is a 1968 album by two American Jazz musicians, Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons . Other participating musicians in this album were bassist Buster Williams, drummer Charles Moffett and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson...
  
  
• 1969: Manhattan Egos
• 1970: Rumasuma
• 1971: Burning Spirits
• 1982: Backwoods Suite
• 1990: Global Jungle
• 1994: Ancient Ritual
• 1997: American Jungle
• 2001: Tales Of The Ancient East
• 2004: The Future Is Ancient
• 2005: The Traveler
• 2006: I'll See You When You Get There
• 2007: Last Man Standing
• 2007: Ecstatic Nostalgia
• 2008: True Wind
• 2009: Atomic Symphony
• 2011: Symphony Of The Peacocks

As sideman

With Elvin Jones

Elvin 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....

/Jimmy Garrison

Jimmy Garrison

Jimmy Garrison was an American jazz double bassist born in Miami, Florida. He was best known through his long association with John Coltrane from 1961–1967.-Biography:...

• Illumination! (1963)

With Eric Dolphy

Eric Dolphy

Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...

• Conversations
  Conversations (Eric Dolphy album)
  Conversations is a 1963 album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist, Eric Dolphy.- Track listing :Side 1:# "Jitterbug Waltz" – 7:17# "Music Matador" – 9:35 Side 2:# "Love Me" – 3:22# "Alone Together" – 13:36- Personnel :...
  
  (1963)
• Iron Man
  Iron Man (Eric Dolphy album)
  Iron Man is a 1963 album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist, Eric Dolphy.-Track listing:Side 1:# "Iron Man" – 9:07# "Mandrake" – 4:50# "Come Sunday" – 6:24Side 2:# "Burning Spear" – 11:49# "Ode to C.P." – 8:05...
  
  (1963)

External links

• Sonny Simmons official site
• Sonny Simmons interview by Clifford Allen, from All About Jazz website
• Sonny Simmons interview by Fred Jung