Back in 2020 I transcribed Sonny Stitt’s solo on “On The Sunny Side Of The Street” which is one of two iconic bebop tenor solos that really excited me as a young player. Second only to Sonny in my mind was Dexter Gordon’s entire performance on “Three O’Clock In The Morning” off his 1962 album Go which I finally got around to transcribing this August as I sought out a distraction from studying for my upcoming PhD qualifying exam.
Jon Batiste is quite possibly one of my favorite contemporary jazz pianists. While widely known for his work as the bandleader for Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” Batiste has released many albums under his own name as well as with the band Stay Human. Most recently, he released two live albums both recorded at the Village Vanguard in 2018 and released in 2019: “Chronology of a Dream” and “Anatomy of Angels.
Growing up, I listened to the 1959 album Sonny Side Up (recorded in 1957) more times than I could ever count. As a saxophonist I was drawn into both Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins’ sound, phrasing, and mastery of the bebop language. When given the chance to transcribe a solo from 1940–1960 for a Jazz Improvisation class at college, I jumped at the opportunity to learn Stitt’s fantastic solo on On the Sunny Side of the Street.