Sonny Criss
William "Sonny" Criss (23 October 1927 – 19 November 1977) was an American jazz musician.
An alto saxophonist of prominence during the bebop era of jazz, he was one of many players influenced by Charlie Parker.
Biography
William Criss was born in Memphis, Tennessee and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 15. He then went on to play in various bands including Howard McGhee's, which also featured Charlie Parker.
Criss had developed his own, concise, bluesy tone by this point, and though his basic style did not vary much, his ability on the instrument continued to develop. Nevertheless, he continued to drift from band to band, and played on some records with Johnny Otis and Billy Eckstine.
His first major break came in 1947, on a number of jam sessions arranged by jazz impresario Norman Granz. In 1956 he signed to Imperial Records, based in New York, and recorded a series albums including Jazz U.S.A , Go Man! and Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter featuring pianist Sonny Clark. Capitol, which owned the master recordings, reissued them as a 2-CD set on their Blue Note imprint in 2000. Criss also recorded At the Crossroads with pianist Wynton Kelly.
Podcasts:
Sonny Criss
ALBUMS
- Up, Up and Away released: 2006
- The Lost Recordings released: 2004
- The Complete Imperial Sessions released: 2000
- The Beat Goes On! released: 1997
- Rockin' in Rhythm released: 1997
- I'll Catch the Sun released: 1997
- Portrait of Sonny Criss released: 1997
- This Is Criss! released: 1991
- The Sonny Criss Memorial Album released: 1984
- The Joy of Sax released: 1977
- Out of Nowhere released: 1976
- Warm & Sonny released: 1976
- Crisscraft released: 1975
- Saturday Morning released: 1975
- Criss Cross released: 1963
- Jazz in Paris: Mr Blues pour flirter released: 1963
- At the Crossroads released: 1959
- Sessions, Live released: 1956
- Go Man! released: 1956
- Jazz - U.S.A. released: 1956
- Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter released: 1956
- An Evening of Jazz released: 1949
- California Boppin' released: 1947
Born: 1927-10-23
Died: 1977-11-19
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Ayatollah
by: SwingersThe Shah of Iran, he ran from terror
People's revolution taking over th land
It wasn't always like that
There's a new superman - Ayatollah Khomeini
Put a spell on Iran - a dark eye genie
Oh Ayatollah man - he rules the way
He's got a head the size of Hitler
And they call him Ayatollah
He's just another Mussolini
And his name is Khomeini
I'm singing
ayah, Aya-tollah Khomeini
ayah, Aya-tollah Khomeini
ayah, Aya-tollah Khomeini
ay-oh-oh tollah Khomeini
Aye-oh-aye
He does what he does in the name of religion
There are no answers, there are no questions
Makes his own rules, just another dictator
A game for fools of the gambling nature
Oh Ayatollah man - he rules the way
He's got a head the size of Hitler
And they call him Ayatollah
He's just another Mussolini
And his name is Khomeini
I'm singing
ayah, Aya-tollah Khomeini
ayah, Aya-tollah Khomeini
ayah, Aya-tollah Khomeini
ay-oh-oh tollah Khomeini
Aye-oh-aye
Ayatollah, Ayatollah, Ayatollah, Khomeini!
kho-kho-kho-meini
He's got a head the size of Hitler
And the call him Ayatollah
He's just another Admiral Tojo
and this is how the song goes