Jazz for aficionados
It goes without saying that Alfred Lion, a man I had respected as one of the greats of bringing American Jazz to millions of listeners, was just another business man trying to take advantage of artists (yes I know most all recording companies and their owners/employees are guilty of this). For some reason I always thought of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff as a duo that had integrity but now I know otherwise.... |
Back to the music... Re: Sonny Simmons (the artist that Alfred Lion tried to sign using heroin) This was the first I have heard of him because Sonny Rollins liked his playing. Rollins and Simmons would go over to saxophonist Clifford Jordans house for hours long jam sessions and Rollins liked Simmons because of his improvisational talent. Naturally I checked Spotify and found Simmons' first 3 albums and made a Sonny Simmons Playlist. His debut album as a leader is called Staying on the Watch - Wikipedia |
I have no problem believing that Lion could be guilty of this. He was, after all a record producer in the 30s through the end of the 60s and heroin was used by a lot of jazz artists, many of whom made little to no money and were "strung out". The list is so long that posting the names of the jazz artists that used dope during these 4 decades might take up a whole page on this thread.....
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