Sylvester Kyner Jr. (December 17, 1932 – March 20, 1981), known as Sonny Red, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer associated with the

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

idiom among other styles. Sonny Red played with

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

Curtis Fuller Curtis DuBois Fuller (December 15, 1932May 8, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings. Early life Fuller was born in Detroit on December 15, 1932. ...

Paul Quinichette Paul Quinichette (May 17, 1916 – May 25, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was known as the "Vice President" or "Vice Prez" for his emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, whose nickname was "The President", or simply "P ...

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop m ...

Grant Green Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Recording prolifically for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms ...

Blue Mitchell Richard Allen "Blue" Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979) was an American trumpeter and composer who worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and funk. He recorded albums as leader and sideman for Riverside, Mainstream Records, and Blu ...

Wynton Kelly Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of ...

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...

, and

Cedar Walton Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and com ...

Biography

In the late 1940s, when he was still in his teens, Sonny Red began to play professionally in Detroit with

Barry Harris Barry Doyle Harris (December 15, 1929 – December 8, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. He was an exponent of the bebop style. Life and career Harris was born in Detroit, Michigan, on December ...

. He continued to play with Barry Harris until 1952. He went on to play with Art Blakey in 1954, and in 1957 recorded with Curtis Fuller on three albums. Sonny Red first came on the greater jazz scene in the late 1950s with Art Pepper in the album ''Two Altos''. He made two albums as a leader in 1961; both were released by Jazzland Recordings, a subsidiary of

Riverside Records Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside ...

. He continued to record in the 1960s, including four albums with Donald Byrd in 1967. By the 1970s, however, Sonny Red was falling into obscurity. He died in March 1981, at the age of 48.

Discography

As leader

* 1957: ''

Two Altos ''Two Altos'' is an album by American alto saxophonists Art Pepper and Sonny Red. The four standards which appear on the album were recorded in Los Angeles with West Coast-jazz musicians between 1952 and 1954, whilst the two originals were record ...

'' (Regent) with

Art Pepper Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American alto saxophonist and very occasional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Active in West Coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. He was known ...

* 1959–60: '' Out of the Blue'' (

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

) * 1960: '' Breezing'' ( Jazzland) * 1961: ''

A Story Tale ''A Story Tale'' is an album by jazz saxophonists Clifford Jordan and Sonny Red which was recorded in 1961 and released on the Jazzland label.Clifford Jordan Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after ...

* 1961: ''

The Mode ''The Mode'' is an album by American saxophonist Sonny Red recorded in 1961 with Grant Green and Barry Harris and released on the Jazzland label.

'' (Jazzland) with

and

* 1962: ''

Images An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

'' (Jazzland) with Grant Green and Barry Harris * 1971: ''

Sonny Red Sylvester Kyner Jr. (December 17, 1932 – March 20, 1981), known as Sonny Red, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer associated with the hard bop idiom among other styles. Sonny Red played with Art Blakey, Curtis Fuller, Paul Quin ...

'' (

Mainstream Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso Mu ...

)

As sideman

With

* '' Mustang!'' (Blue Note, 1966) * ''

Blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

'' (Blue Note, 1967) * '' Slow Drag'' (Blue Note, 1967) * '' The Creeper'' (Blue Note, 1967) With

* ''

New Trombone ''New Trombone'' is the debut album by trombonist Curtis Fuller recorded in 1957 and originally released on Prestige Records.

'' (Prestige, 1957) * '' Curtis Fuller with Red Garland'' (New Jazz, 1957) * '' Jazz ...It's Magic!'' (Regent, 1957) With

Bill Hardman William Franklin Hardman Jr. (April 6, 1933 – December 6, 1990) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege. Career Hardman was born and grew ...

* '' Saying Something'' (Savoy, 1961) With

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America. Although Lateef's main instruments ...

* '' The Blue Yusef Lateef'' (Atlantic, 1968) With

Pony Poindexter Norwood "Pony" Poindexter (February 8, 1926, New Orleans, Louisiana – April 14, 1988, Oakland, California) was an American jazz saxophonist. Poindexter began on clarinet and switched to playing alto and tenor sax. In 1940 he studied unde ...

* ''

Pony's Express ''Pony's Express'' is the debut album by saxophonist Pony Poindexter which was released on the Epic label in 1962.Fitzgerald, M.Pony Poindexter Leader Entryaccessed July 2, 2015 Reception Ken Dryden of Allmusic stated: "It's a shame that Pony Po ...

'' (Epic, 1962) With

* '' On the Sunny Side'' (Prestige, 1957) With

Bobby Timmons Robert Henry Timmons (December 19, 1935 – March 1, 1974) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He was a sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for two periods (July 1958 to September 1959; February 1960 to June 1961), between which he w ...

* ''Live at the Connecticut Jazz Party'' (

Early Bird Records Early Bird Records is an independent record label that issues rare recordings. Bassist Mickey Bass appears on many of the albums, including ''Sentimental Mood'' and ''Another Way Out'', sessions which he led. The label also released ''Mickey B's ...

, 1964) With

Frank Wess Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic ...

* ''Jazz Is Busting Out All Over'' (1957)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red, Sonny 1932 births 1981 deaths Musicians from Detroit American jazz alto saxophonists American male saxophonists Hard bop saxophonists Blue Note Records artists Mainstream Records artists Savoy Records artists Bebop saxophonists 20th-century American saxophonists Jazz musicians from Michigan 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians