Dial "S" for Sonny

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Dial "S" for Sonny
File:Dial S for Sonny.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 1957[1]
RecordedJuly 21, 1957
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
GenreJazz
Length40:55
LabelBlue Note
ProducerAlfred Lion
Sonny Clark chronology
Dial "S" for Sonny
(1957)
Sonny's Crib
(1958)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings [3]

Dial "S" for Sonny is the debut studio album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark recorded in 1957 for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, Wilbur Ware, and Louis Hayes.[4] The album title is an allusion to Frederick Knott's play Dial M for Murder, which was first produced in 1952 and then made into a successful film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1954.

Reception

Critic John S. Wilson, in a contemporaneous review, remarked negatively that "Art Farmer contributes some crackling solos to Dial S for Sonny, [...] but he has to fight a chomp-chomp rhythm section".[5] An AllMusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated: "Dial "S" for Sonny, Sonny Clark's first session for Blue Note Records and his first session as a leader, is a terrific set of laidback bop, highlighted by Clark's liquid, swinging solos... Clark steals the show in this set of fine, straight-ahead bop."[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Sonny Clark, except as indicated
  1. "Dial "S" for Sonny" – 7:26
  2. "Bootin' It" – 5:17
  3. "It Could Happen to You" (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 6:59
  4. "Sonny's Mood" – 8:38
  5. "Shoutin' on a Riff" – 6:45
  6. "Love Walked In" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 5:50
  7. "Bootin' It" [Alternate Take] – 5:15 Bonus track on CD

Personnel

Production

Charts

Chart performance for Dial "S" for Sonny
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[7] 147

References

  1. ^ Schwann Stereo Record Guide, 1966
  2. ^ Allmusic Review
  3. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  4. ^ Sonny Clark discography accessed December 21, 2009.
  5. ^ Wilson, John S. (1959) The Collector's Jazz: Modern, p. 68. J. B. Lippincott.
  6. ^ Earlewine, S. T. Allmusic Review accessed December 21, 2009.
  7. ^ "Ultratop.be – Sonny Clark – Dial %22S%22 for Sonny" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 7, 2022.