SONNY SIMMONS - LIVE AT RIVE DE GIER
Rhino Jazz Festival, October 17, 2001

1. Title X (Sonny Simmons) / Music Matador
(Sonny Simmons/Prince Lasha) [39:10]

It seemed obvious that our first project would pay homage to the genius performer. The fourth alto solo performance by Sonny Simmons to be issued, this one is as important as Jewels in that it demonstrates Simmons' ability to elaborate on catchy, clever tunes, in a distinctive frame very much of his own: he stretches time to the extreme without losing the beat, the power, with a spectacular instinct for structuring, right on the spot, a continuous flow of ideas that Bert Wilson once described as "awe-inspiring".

Limited edition of 70, march 2006.

Credits:     Astrid Leducq: design. Benjamin Duboc: mastering. Thanks to Sonny Simmons, Roy Morris, and Marc Chaloin. Special thanks to Jean-Paul Chazalon and Emmanuel Miras of Rhino Jazz Festival; don't forget to visit them at http://www.jazzrivedegier.com/.

© 2001, Sonny Simmons + dec. 2005, march 2006, HW!.

SONNY SIMMONS - LIVE AT THE CHESHIRE CAT
The Gnu Deli (Olympia, WA, USA), early 1980
Cheshire Cat Club (SF, USA), fall 1980

CD1: 1. It's The Talk Of The Town (Symes/Neiburg/Livingston) [43:06]

CD2 : 1. Lost Village Of Um'Tombey (Sonny Simmons) [22:04]
2. Body And Soul (Green/Robert/ Heyman/Eyton) [11:57]

Featuring Richard Clements: piano. Freddie Williams: bass. Larry Hancock, Irvin Lovilette: drums.

"This double-CD set offers an unprecedented documentation of a crucial juncture in Sonny Simmons’ musical life, when he was left with no other choice than to start all over again as a half-forgotten local player, or vanish altogether in the land of oblivion and broken dreams. It is doubtful, however, if he even stopped one moment to ponder the alternative; music was his life and he took the only course of action he could conceive of: accept his present condition and “deal with it,” no matter what expedients that might entail, and to what extremities it might lead him. From that moment it would take another fourteen years of day-to-day survival and undefeated will to keep on playing, until he was finally restored to his status as an internationally acclaimed recording and performing artist. Here, at the inception of his long journey towards artistic renaissance, he is caught on both sides of the watershed [...]" (from inner essay by Marc Chaloin)

This is the music Sonny Simmons wants you to hear. Nobody got interested in it at the times though, according to Sonny, the Richard Clements/Larry Hancock/Freddie Williams aggregation as pictured on CD 2 was his best quartet ever. Within a mere six months the group developed his own bland of hard-swinging post-bop and underlying sonic mayhem reminiscent of Coltrane's classic quartet. - On the other hand, CD 1 captures Sonny in a mood that will come as a great surprise to those only familiar with his "regular" discography: backed by two percussionists, he improvises at length with abrasive intensity. Polyrhythmic grooves, daring, often violent saxophone explorations, this music might as well incarnate what "free-jazz" could/should have been.

We are lucky these tapes survived 26 years of complete oblivion, and proud to present them at last.

Limited edition of 85 (50 only from "Hello World!"), july 2006.

Credits:     Benjamin Duboc: tape restauration. Marc Chaloin: essay. Thanks to Kirk Heydt, Sonny Simmons, Marc Chaloin, Roy Morris and all the great jazz legends involved.

© 1980, Kirk Heydt and Sonny Simmons + july 2006, HW!, a joint release with Homeboy Music.

SONNY SIMMONS, BRUNO GREGOIRE - FATHERLANDS
Romainville, August 3 and 4, 2006

CD1: Link - Comores - Anciens Souvenirs - Agadez, Ressac - Link - Poeme de l'Ile Noire - Anciens Souvenirs - Poème du Diable et de Rien.

CD2: Far Away From Cluj - Anciens Souvenirs - La Sirène du Brittania et autres poèmes mexicains - Anciens Souvenirs - Niger - Link - Comores.

Compositions and improvisations: Sonny Simmons. Poetry: Bruno Grégoire. With the voice of Anne Segal.

New Roots? This is a sound Sonny Simmons has had in mind for nearly a lifetime. This exceptional double CD captures Sonny, mostly on English horn, with french poet Bruno Grégoire. This is not the first time that "jazz meets poetry". But this is not exactly jazz, and this is not exactly poetry. Nothing can really describe this project: conceived as a two-hours suite, it takes you to the roots of Sonny's musical vision, black music from the borders of the Niles to the borders of Mississipi, while Bruno Grégoire and Anne Segal draw vivid pictures of other faraway lands, - other lost fatherlands.

Non french-speaking listeners shouldn't be deterred from exploring these sound landscapes: Sonny delivers here one of his most haunting solo experiment ever, the four-part, 43 minutes long "Anciens Souvenirs", composed for the English horn. One of the many reasons this record will stand as one of the pivotal albums recorded by Simmons over a course of 40 years.

First edition of 60, december 2006.

Credits:     Poems by kind permission of Obsidiane, pub. Sound, remix: Benjamin Duboc. Sleeve photos: Bruno Grégoire. Inner sleeve pictures, design: Michel Kristof, HW!. Produced by Sonny Simmons, Bruno Grégoire and Anne Segal. Executive producers: Julien Palomo and Michel Kristof.

© 2006, Bruno Grégoire and Sonny Simmons + december 2006, HW!.

SONNY SIMMONS - ECSTATIC NOSTALGIA
Romainville, August 4, 2006
Galerie Apnée, Paris, December 12, 2006

  1. Introduction: Ode To Thelonious Monk (Sonny Simmons) [8:09]
2. My Favorite Things (Richard Rodgers/Oliver Hammerstein II) [1:55]
3. The Promise (John Coltrane) [2:35]
4. Exotic Study (Sonny Simmons) [16:58]
5. My Favorite Things (Richard Rodgers/Oliver Hammerstein II) [7:24]
6. Blues For Everyday Life (Sonny Simmons) [9:56]
7. Out Of Love (Sonny Simmons) [13:44]

Alto saxophone, cor anglais: Sonny Simmons.

"I didn't know I had this feminine creature inside of me." Is this the romantic side of Sonny Simmons? The bulk of this first volume of solo performances was recorded at the now defunct Galerie Apnée in the old and colourful Mouffetard neighbourhood in Paris, and at Bruno Grégoire's home in Romainville earlier in 2006. Here's Sonny Simmons in a relaxed mood, writing love poems on the spur of a delightful morning. From the meditative gentleness of "Ode to Thelonious Monk" to the 25th century blues of "Blues For Everyday Life", through the sinuous "Exotic Study" or the audacious reconstruction of "My Favorite Things" which propels Coltrane and Bismillah Khan in a new dimension, scholars, fans and casual listeners as well are given the best of Sonny Simmons solo since the long gone masterpiece Out Into The Andromeda.

First edition of 100, june 2007.

Credits:     Recorded and mixed by Benjamin Duboc. Photos: Michel Kristof. Design: HW!. Produced by Sonny Simmons. Executive producers: Roy Morris for Homeboy Music, Michel Kristof, Julien Palomo. Special thanks to Michael Marcus.

© 2006, HW! + june 2007, HW!, a joint release with Homeboy Music.

SONNY SIMMONS - FOURTH DIMENSION
Paris, March 23, 2007

  1. Ancient Tibet (Sonny Simmons) [20:01]
2. Light-Years Away (Sonny Simmons) [10:43]
3. The Lady Who Got Away (Sonny Simmons) [7:16]
4. The Valleys Of Lebanon (Sonny Simmons) [8:10]
5. Fourth Dimension (Sonny Simmons) [8:39]
6. One For Leadbelly (Sonny Simmons) [3:53]

Alto saxophone, cor anglais: Sonny Simmons.

Sonny Simmons comments: "Ideas make a civilization of music". This second volume of solo performances brings forth the complex and brilliant horn algebra which made Simmons famous in the free jazz era. Fourth Dimension is indeed music conceived as out of our physical universe. Sonny Simmons unfolds a new world of music to explore, in a bright manner already exemplified by two points of reference in solo improvisation, Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell. Here Sonny's peculiar, meditative cor anglais, his explosive and mathematical alto sax create a unique language, which can only be described as jazz's babylonian ancestor, or one of the music's future development, - not today's jazz, nor its immediate past, nor its immediate future. Listen, and learn.

First edition of 100, july 2007.

Credits:     Recorded and mixed by Benjamin Duboc. Painting: Cati Blanche. Design: HW!. Produced by Sonny Simmons. Executive producers: Roy Morris for Homeboy Music, Michel Kristof, Julien Palomo.

© 2007, HW! + june 2007, HW!, a joint release with Homeboy Music.

SONNY SIMMONS - INTRODUCING BLACK JACK PLEASANTON
The Kirk Heydt Tapes, 1980-1982

CD1: 1. Spoken Introduction [ObnC0:40]
2. Intro: Zoarius (Kirk Heydt) / Red Planet (Eric Dolphy) [33:45]
3. Red Planet (Eric Dolphy) / Outro: Le Purple Dove
(Sonny Simmons) [33:45]
4. Zoarius Reprise (Kirk Heydt) [8:38]

CD2 : 1. Flight Of The Wild Geese (Simmons/Heydt/Young) [36:50]
2. Over In The Beyond (Sonny Simmons) [29:54]

CD3: 1. Ancient Ritual (Sonny Simmons) [9:47]
2. The Musical Revolution (Sonny Simmons) [16:16]
3. One For Thelonious Monk, tk1 (Sonny Simmons) [3:59]
4. One For Thelonious Monk, tk2 (Sonny Simmons) [25:19]
5. Ode To Ustad Bismillah Khan (Sonny Simmons) [16:45]

CD4: 1. The Flying Cranes (Sonny Simmons) [20:32]
2. Caribbean Nights (Sonny Simmons) [10:08]
3. One Pour John C. / Caribbea Nights Reprise
(Sonny Simmons) [11:47]
4. Saxomania For Strings (Simmons/Young/Hadjee) [31:16]

Featuring Kirk Heydt: cello. Arnold Young: drums. Steve Suhren: flute. Other unidentified musicians.

We've all read that Sonny Simmons was a homeless junkie for thirteen years, from the early days of the Reagan administration to the glorious resurrection of Ancient Ritual. That he was playing the streets under an alias, Black Jack Pleasanton. But somehow, the driving (healing) force that is music never failed him. Where others would have disappeared, he lept into the unknown. Freed from all the constraints that wrecked his musician's life - hustling for gigs, producers, no media coverage... - he allowed his music to be totally, absolutely personnal. Delivering his original blend of hard-bop and free jazz, he added layers and layers of cello, double bass, violin to his sound, as he had always wanted to. Sonny wants you to know: "I'm proud of my 70-and-so albums, but it's here, and only here, you will hear my true unrestricted self".

This is the story of another man, too. Then in his early twenties, cellist Kirk Heydt was following the lost saxophone master with a portable cassette recorder. He helped Sonny shape the sound of the group. Thanks to his efforts (when nobody cared!), 5 hours of it are preserved. Later, he would produce the now legendary album Global Jungle - but that's another story.

The bulk of the music? The core trio of Sonny Simmons, Kirk Heydt and ace drummer Arnold Young, enriched with various string instruments and flute (Steve Suhren). Two major Simmons obsessions are made obvious. The Ancient East motives and the string-driven arrangements, faintly evidenced in the ESP and Arhoolie sets of the preceding decade, have matured during this pivotal 1980-1982 years. This is where The Traveller takes its origins. The connection to the music of Albert Ayler is also made clearer than usual: the use of string improvisers links this box set to Ayler’s 1967 groups (Live in Greenwich Village). A thick carpet of strings, intense if sparse drumming. Of course, his two other masters must have been watching, too: Dolphy’s Red Planet is getting two half-hour long renditions (!), while Coltrane’s science of the saxophone mechanics inspire One pour John C. This may be some of the best free jazz ever – because it is barely linked to anything we acknowledge as free jazz, the ESP era, the Actuel era, the Lofts era : this is, like Coltrane pointed at in his last moments, EXPRESSION, fully personal expression.

In the end you will only wonder: "Is this the music of a homeless junkie?" and you'll realize Sonny Simmons was, is, truely something else.

The box set comes with a 16-pages booklet featuring a new essay by Marc Chaloin.

Limited edition of 75, april 2008.

Credits:     HW!: tape restauration. Marc Chaloin: essay. Cover: Electric Man by Janet Janke. Thanks to Kirk Heydt, Sonny Simmons, Steve Suhren, Arnold Young, Marc Chaloin, Roy Morris and all the great jazz legends involved.

© 1980-1982, Kirk Heydt + april 2008, HW!, a joint release with Homeboy Music.

SONNY SIMMONS - A TRUE LIFE DRAMA
Collected Performances, Words and Poems, December 2005

This audio-documentary is a premiere. Our previous download highlighted the performers's skills; this new program shows the intimate Sonny Simmons, his thinking, his musical likings, his warmth. The "Collected Performances, Words and Poems" of Sonny Simmons present him in varied settings (while in transit in France between the Cosmosamatics' european tour and a gig at Tonic): a short snippet of a public poetry reading of Bruno Grégoire at Galerie La Toupie in Paris; a series of solo excursions captured in a bistrot in Lyon, under the benevolent eye of his friend and autobiographer Marc Chaloin; and an exceptionnal fireside session done at Bruno Grégoire's home near Paris, where Sonny premiered a hauntingly bautiful composition for English horn. Both the great poet and the inspired/inspiring musician sculpt voice intonations and notes into a dreamy work of art and invitation au voyage, "Niger". Sonny Simmons sings the blues, the way he heard it in the Backwoods back in the 30's : "I'm bringing it back in the modern times", before the conversation falls on this and that subject, his background, the way the world should be, being a hip cat in NYC in '63 and being kidnapped by Sonny Rollins, not forgetting la pasta (which was left off the program). Here the fire sparkling; there, a casual conversation behind a cool flurry of notes, an occasionnal ringing glass, or glass-ringing laughter, trace an image of the artist livelier than live. Not your average remote jazz legend; not the genius forever locked in a creative prison; Sonny Simmons is a fabulous storyteller, he's been through things ("Oh Boy - the things I could tell you"), he's been thinking about all that, life dramas and music, and is ready to deliver his thoughts anytime, anyplace, be it by blowing the saxophone, hanging aroung with his homeboys, or carefully composing jazz chamber music pieces for the 25^th century. We hope you'll enjoy discovering the hidden facets of this true survivor of now two centuries, ready for a third!

Credits:     Bruno Grégoire: cover photo. Supervisors in Paris: Julien Palomo and Michel Kristof. Supervisor in Lyon: Marc Chaloin. Thanks to Sonny Simmons, Bruno (again!), Galerie La Toupie (Paris), Le Bistrot de Vaise (Lyon). Visit sessionography for details on the sessions.

Ce site respecte le droit d’auteur. Tous les droits des auteurs des œuvres protégées reproduites et communiquées sur ce site, sont réservés. Sauf autorisation, toute utilisation des œuvres autres que la reproduction et la consultation individuelles et privées sont interdites.

          © S. Simmons, B. Grégoire + dec. 2005, HW!.

WARNING: These recordings are homemade. A portable cassette recorder was used for live takes in Paris and Lyon, and a Revox A 77 machine for the session held at B. Grégoire's home. The supervisors wish to state that, by using these devices, they intended to create a result as true to the spirit and environment of the performances and conversations as possible. Nevertheless they do apologize for the various background noises and occasionnal electromagnetic interferences. Download specifications: MP3 file (bitrate: 320 kbit/s for the music pieces, 160 kbits/s for the conversations). The files may take a while to download. Hopefully the entire program will be available in RSS flux in the near future. Contact webmaster if you encounter any problem.