Sonny Simmons

Sonny Simmons – born Huey Simmons on August 4, 1933 in Sicily Island, Louisiana – was a spiritual jazz and free jazz alto saxophonist. He grew up in Oakland, California and studied the English horn before moving to tenor saxophone and the viola. Relocating to New York, he frequented the avant-garde jazz scene and met fellow saxophonist Prince Lasha. Sonny Simmons joined Lasha’s quintet and was featured on the album The Cry! (1963). He would work several more times with Prince Lasha over the next decade including the 1963 album It Is Revealed, which also featured Clifford Jordan and Don Cherry. Sonny Simmons then recorded two 1963 albums with Eric Dolphy – Conversations and Iron Man – before releasing his first album as a leader, Staying on the Watch (1966). Two years later, he released Music from the Spheres (1968), followed quickly by Manhattan Egos (1968), Rumasuma (1970), and Burning Spirits (1971). Personal problems began to interfere with his personal and professional lives and he hit hard times, releasing only one album – 1982’s Backwoods Suite – in a 20-year time span. Sonny Simmons returned in 1990 with the album Global Jungle and a a reissue of the rare Backwoods Suite. He became very prolific throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2001, he joined The Cosmosamatics, releasing nine albums with them over the next 12 years while also continuing to release albums as a leader. Sonny Simmons died on April 6, 2021.

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