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16 Jan 2026 · New York
In Focus: Sonny Simmons
Focus on Sonny Simmons
Saxophonist Sonny Simmons (1933–2021) embodied the resilient, revolutionary ethos of mid-twentieth-century jazz, erupting on the scene in 1960s New York as the complex harmonics of bebop, popularized by Charlie Parker, met the anarchic, ascendant force of free jazz. Early on, Simmons established himself as a ferociously expressive performer, playing alongside greats like Prince Lasha, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and John Coltrane. But it was his later music — like the album Ancient Ritual, which marked Simmons’s reemergence after more than a decade of poverty, addiction, and obscurity—that cemented his signature spirit of survival.
Selected by Lawrence Kumpf of Blank Forms, upon the publication of Simmons’s memoir Better Do It Now Before You Die Later.
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Tracklist
- Steve DalachinskyIntroduction Sonny Simmons Live At The Knitting Factory
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- Prince Lasha Quartet Featuring Sonny SimmonsLost Generation
- Prince Lasha Quartet Featuring Sonny SimmonsPrelude To Bird
- Prince Lasha Quartet Featuring Sonny SimmonsFirebirds
- Sonny SimmonsAncient Ritual
- Sonny SimmonsZarak’s Symphony
- Sonny SimmonsDolphy’s Days
- Sonny SimmonsColtrane In Paradise
- CosmosamaticsAvant Garde Destruct
- Elvin JonesAborigine Dance In Scotland
- Sonny SimmonsAncient Ritual