''Burning Spirits'' is a double album by American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

saxophonist

Sonny Simmons Huey "Sonny" Simmons (August 4, 1933 – April 6, 2021) was an American jazz musician. Biography Simmons was born on August 4, 1933 in Sicily Island, Louisiana. He grew up in Oakland, California, where he began playing the English horn. (Along w ...

(credited as Huey Simmons on the initial release), which was recorded in 1970 and released on the

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

label.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

awarded the album four stars with its review by Alex Henderson stating: "''Burning Spirits'' is generally more free jazz than post-bop. But regardless of whether Simmons is playing inside or outside (usually outside), the saxman plays with tremendous conviction on this album." Robert Palmer of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' commented: "Simmons and friends have taken the developments of the past ten years ..and compacted them into an ever-changing kaleidoscope of spaces and densities that make a lot of what's ''au courant'' seem pale by comparison. If you buy only one LP of 'jazz' music this year, make it this one." Writing for

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

, Jeff Stockton commented: "it would be nearly 22 years before immonsmade another significant recording after ''Burning Spirits''. The harrowing intensity of the solos, the unrelenting quest for transcendence, and the overriding spirituality of the compositions indicate a substantial amount of recovery time was in order... For 80 minutes ''Burning Spirits'' grabs you by the collar and doesn't let go. It's a full dose of old school energy music that's hard to come by these days."

Track listing

''All compositions by Huey Simmons'' # "Burning Spirits No. 1" - 11:34 # "New Newk" - 11:42 # "Healing Rays" - 15:55 # "Burning Spirits No. 2" - 13:47 # "Things and Beings" - 9:27 # "E=MC²" - 16:53

Personnel

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

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 and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

Barbara Donald Barbara Kay Donald (September 2, 1942 – March 23, 2013) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Life and career She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Donald began playing trumpet aged eight in Minnesota, and her family r ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(tracks 1, 3, 4 & 6) * Michael White -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(tracks 1 & 3-6) *

Lonnie Liston Smith Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. (born December 28, 1940) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(tracks 2 & 5) * Richard Davis,

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

(tracks 1 & 3-6) - bass *

Clifford Jarvis Clifford Osbourne Jarvis (August 26, 1941 – November 26, 1999) was an American hard bop and free jazz drummer, who in the 1980s moved to London, England, where he spent the remainder of his career. Biography Clifford Jarvis, the son of Malc ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

{{Authority control Sonny Simmons albums 1970 albums Contemporary Records albums