An analysis of the similarities between the improvisations of Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt

Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker (1920-1955) and Edward ‘Sonny’ Stitt (1924-1982) were two of the most

influential saxophonists within the Bebop/PostBop idioms. With Parker pioneering and developing Bebop

(the subgenre of Jazz characterized by it’s blistering tempo’s, virtuosic playing and use of extended

harmony) throughout the 1940’s and Stitt prolifically recording and spreading the Sound of Bebop and

Hardbop across America, “Sonny Stitt was constantly moving from town to town and city to city,

attempting to find common cause with whatever local rhythm section was available” (Sonny Stitt: the

early years, G.Jack, 2020).

The main focus and emphasis of this Project is to discover how and why Sonny Stitt and Charlie Parker

sound so similar? And ultimately find out how similar the language and improvisations of Sonny Stitt and

Charlie Parker were. This question was sparked once reading and interview transcription on the ‘National

Jazz Archive’ of Sonny Stitt talking to Les Tompkins (Sonny Stitt, Sonny Strikes Back, 1965) about his

sound, he stated “Me and Charlie Parker sounded the same way years and years and years ago. He said:

“You sound like me.” I said: “Well, you sound like me.” This exchange was made in 1943 after the first

and last time Stitt and Parker played together, at a jam session in the “Gypsy tea Room” (Sonny Stitt: the

early years, G.Jack, 2020). Stitt’s acknowledgment of the similarities of his and Parker’s style is

unsurprising as Stitt would constantly be compared to ‘Bird’ throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s, Stitt

displayed his frustration with the comparison at the end of “Down Beat” interview, “I’m no Bird, man.

And Cannonball Adderley isn’t either. Nobody’s Bird! Bird died” (Down Beat, 1959). This has

influenced the last part of the projects question, was the comparisons justified?
To best analyse and compare the improvisations of Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt, the analysis will

compare the Charlie Parker Omnibook’s (Aebersold, 1978) transcription of Parkers improvisations on

‘Koko’ (Parker, 1945) against a transcription of Stitt’s improvisations on the same tune from his 1964

album Stitt Plays Bird. These improvisations (on the same tune) were chosen to enable the analysis to

clearly present and compare both musicians approach’s to melody and harmony when improvising on the

same harmonic sequence and when both players are improvising on Alto Saxophone. Although Stitt was

mainly compared to Parker during the start of his career (1943-1949) there are still clear references and

commonalities to Parkers playing that can be heard later on in Stitt’s career. By selecting a piece recorded

by Stitt, slightly later than the years mentioned above, this means the analysis will be conducted of a more

mature and more articulate player than a musician at the start of his recording career. The final reason for

selecting ‘Koko’ from Stitt plays Bird is because this album displays Stitt’s appreciation of Parker, this

means Stitt may choose to embrace the similarities within their playing more on this album and piece of

which was written by Parker himself.

Each solo will be analysed from eight different perspectives as this is an approach based on common

harmonic practice in jazz analysis. The first four will relate to harmony and melody by analysing the

phrases relationship to harmony, the melodic shape, it’s use of accents (their placement within the phrase)

and it’s use of upper structures. The next four will relate to, as this is another incredibly important feature

within Bebop of the 1940’s/50’s, and will relate to the phrases use of syncopation, it’s length, where it

begins and ends in the bar and its use of triplets. By analysing and comparing each phrase against these

points the analysis will accurately display what makes Stitt’s playing so similar to Bird and also enable

the audience to see if the comparisons between the two Masters of the saxophone are really justifiable.

Although transcription’s are subject to the transcribers own agender and may not be 100% accurate, I still

strongly believe this will be the best means of analysis for my chosen topic.

The analysis will draw on other literary sources to help reach a valid conclusion, these include ‘Charlie

Parker: Techniques of improvisation Volume 1’ (Owens, 1974) so as to help analyse the phrasing and
structures that are commonly found within the playing of Charlie Parker. By doing this the analysis will

draw more theoretical comparisons between the two solos as it will not be solely relying on direct

comparisons such as whether two phrases begin and end in the same place or whether a particular upper-

structure is used at the same point. Other literary sources include ‘Practitioner and Prophet: an analysis

Sonny Stitt’s music and relationship to Charlie Parker’ (Morrison, 2018). The analysis will also utilise

‘Edward “Sonny” Stitt: Original voice or jazz imitator’ (Meier,2014) to help give a background and

context to the playing of Sonny Stitt.

To better manage the scope of the project (as well as making sure it will fit within a twenty minute

presentation) the analysis will only cover the improvisations of Parker and Stitt, from the two pieces

mentioned before instead of analysing and comparing their phrases played over an entire album or

multiple recordings of the same piece. However, the analysis of the two recordings of ‘Koko’ alongside

the eight different analytical perspectives, should enable a clear and concise conclusion to the projects

question “How similar was the language and improvisations of Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt.”

The reason this project is so important is because by closely dissecting the playing and improvisational

traits of these two pioneers within Bebop, the analysis will demonstrate what specific traits and

characteristics it takes to make two players sound so similar without just repeating transcribed phrases

and language. Although there have been literary articles written comparing the early works of Sonny Stitt

to Charlie Parker such as “Edward ‘Sonny’ Stitt: Original voice or Jazz imitator” (Meier, 2014) of which

takes a look at “Oop Bop Sh’Bam,” “That’s Earl Brother” and “Ray’s Idea” for their use of harmony

and other bebop tropes.” All pieces of named here were recorded in and around 1946 (towards the start of

Stitt’s recording career) and this article also does not try to examine if there was any factual justification

behind the comparisons between the two styles, that Stitt so clearly detested.