Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt & Sonny Rollins Sonny Side Up: Verve Vault Series

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt & Sonny Rollins' Sonny Side Up Reissued for the Verve Vault Series. Newly Mastered from the Original Analog Tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and Pressed at Optimal in Germany.

Sonny Side Up, released in 1959 on Verve Records, is the masterful studio collaboration between trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and tenor saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. Recorded in December 1957 with producer Norman Granz, the album brings together three of modern jazz’s most distinctive musicians in a rare frontline configuration. Gillespie, already a pivotal architect of bebop, trades choruses with two tenor titans of contrasting approach: Rollins, with his thematic development and rhythmic elasticity, and Stitt, with his rapid-fire bebop fluency.

It’s rumored that Gillespie playfully pitted Rollins and Stitt against each other ahead of the session which resulted in the bar being raised and the creation of an iconic album. Make no mistake, though, the two trade blows throughout the set leaving no doubt that both are heavyweight champions.

The Verve Vault Series is an audiophile vinyl reissue series highlighting iconic jazz albums as well as overlooked gems from Verve’s vast catalog. The series presents definitive, all-analog 180-gram vinyl pressings newly-mastered from the original analog master tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed at Optimal in Germany.