Night Letter

Night Letter
Night Letter
Studio album by Sonny Stitt
Released	1969
Recorded	October 27, 1969
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre	Jazz
Length	34:27
Label	Prestige; PR-7759
Producer	Bob Porter
Sonny Stitt chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[3]

Night Letter is an album by saxophonist Sonny Stitt recorded in 1969 and released on the Prestige label.^[4] The album features Stitt using the varitone, an electronic amplification device which altered the saxophone's sound.^[5]

Reception

Allmusic reviewed the album stating "He plays with the usual surging intensity, but the album doesn't have as much excitement as similar dates done before and after it".^[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Sonny Stitt except where noted

"Night Letter" - 5:15
"When It's Sleepy Time Down South" (Clarence Muse, Leon René, Otis René) - 4:07
"Stringin' the Jug" (Gene Ammons, Stitt) - 5:20
"Pretend" (Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman, Frank LeVere) - 3:45
"Blue String" - 6:20
"You'll Never Know" (Harry Warren, Mack Gordon) - 4:00
"Blues Walk" - 5:55

Personnel

References

^ Night Letter (compilation) Allmusic Review, accessed January 9, 2013
^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 185. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1347. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
^ Prestige Records Discography accessed January 9, 2013
^ Myers, M. Sonny Stitt: Varitone Redux, All About Jazz, December 20, 2011
^ Wynn, R. Allmusic Review, accessed January 9, 2013

[1] Night Letter (compilation) Allmusic Review, accessed January 9, 2013

[RSJRG-2] Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 185. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.

[Penguin-3] Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1347. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.

[4] Prestige Records Discography accessed January 9, 2013

[5] Myers, M. Sonny Stitt: Varitone Redux, All About Jazz, December 20, 2011

[Allmusic-6] Wynn, R. Allmusic Review, accessed January 9, 2013

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v t e Sonny Stitt
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release.
As leader or co-leader	Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J. J. Johnson (1949–50) Stitt's Bits (1950) Kaleidoscope (1950–52) Jazz at the Hi-Hat (1954) The Battle of Birdland (and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, 1954) Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones (1955) Sonny Stitt Plays (1955) New York Jazz (1956) For Musicians Only (with Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz, 1956) 37 Minutes and 48 Seconds with Sonny Stitt (c.1956/57) Only the Blues (1957) Personal Appearance (1957) Sonny Stitt with the New Yorkers (1957) Burnin' (1958) Sonny Stitt (1958) The Saxophones of Sonny Stitt (1958) A Little Bit of Stitt (1959) Saxophone Supremacy (1959) Sonny Stitt Blows the Blues (1959) Sonny Stitt Plays Jimmy Giuffre Arrangements (1959) Sonny Stitt Sits in with the Oscar Peterson Trio (1959) Sonny Side Up (with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins, Verve, 1959) Sonny Stitt Swings the Most (1959) The Hard Swing (1959) The Sonny Side of Stitt (1959) Previously Unreleased Recordings (1960) Sonny Side Up (Roost, 1960) Stittsville (1960) Stitt in Orbit (1960–62) Sonny Stitt at the D. J. Lounge (1961) The Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt (1961) Feelin's (1962) Low Flame (1962) Rearin' Back (1962) Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass (1962) Stitt Meets Brother Jack (with "Brother" Jack McDuff, 1962) Move on Over (1963) My Mother's Eyes (1963) Now! (1963) Primitivo Soul! (1963) Salt and Pepper (and Paul Gonsalves, 1963) Soul Shack (with "Brother" Jack McDuff, 1963) Stitt Goes Latin (1963) Stitt Plays Bird (1963) My Main Man (and Bennie Green, 1964) Shangri-La (with Don Patterson, 1964) Sax Expressions (1965) Sonny Stitt / Live at Ronnie Scott's (with Dick Morrissey, 1965) Soul People (with Booker Ervin and Don Patterson, 1964–69) Broadway Soul (1965) Inter-Action (and Zoot Sims, 1965) Night Crawler (with Don Patterson, 1965) Pow! (with Bennie Green, 1965) The Matadors Meet the Bull (1965) Deuces Wild (1966) I Keep Comin' Back! (1966) Soul in the Night (and Bunky Green, 1966) What's New!!! (1966) Parallel-a-Stitt (1967) Little Green Apples (1968) Soul Electricity! (1968) Come Hither (1969) Night Letter (1969) Black Vibrations (1971) Turn It On! (1971) 12! (1972) Constellation (1972) Goin' Down Slow (1972) Tune-Up! (1972) Mr. Bojangles (1973) The Champ (1973) Satan (1974) Blues for Duke (1975) Dumpy Mama (1975) Mellow (1975) My Buddy: Sonny Stitt Plays for Gene Ammons (1975) Forecast: Sonny & Red (with Red Holloway, 1976) I Remember Bird (1978) Stomp Off Let's Go (1976) Sonny Stitt with Strings: A Tribute to Duke Ellington (1977) In Style (1981) The Last Sessions (1982)
And Gene Ammons	All Star Sessions (1950–55) Dig Him! (1961) Boss Tenors (1961) Boss Tenors in Orbit! (1962) Soul Summit (with "Brother"Jack McDuff, 1962) You Talk That Talk! (1971) God Bless Jug and Sonny (1973) Left Bank Encores (1973) Together Again for the Last Time (1973)
With Dizzy Gillespie	The Modern Jazz Sextet (1956) Duets (1957) The Giants of Jazz (with Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Kai Winding, 1971) The Bop Session (1975)
With Don Patterson	Patterson's People (1964) Tune Up! (1964–69) The Boss Men (1965) Funk You! (1968) Brothers-4 (1969) Donny Brook (1969)
With others	A Jazz Message (with Art Blakey, 1963) In Walked Sonny (with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, 1975) The Oscar Peterson Trio with Sonny Stitt, Roy Eldridge and Jo Jones at Newport (1957)