What at the time may have appeared like a desperate manoeuvre to distance themselves from accusations of being Bird copyists, the likes of Sonny Stitt and Jimmy ‘Little Bird’ Heath promptly packed their altos back in their cases, as they switched to tenor sax. Not so Sonny Criss who ignored any comparisons and soldiered on, quickly establishing his presence along the West Coast with everyone from Just Jazz and Jazz At The Philharmonic, to the Lighthouse All-Stars and Stan Kenton. It's here that his tart, hyperactive, brittle sounding Bird cry laced with references to Willie Smith gained him attention. He even got to record with his mentor; one where he book-ended Mis'tah Chet during an impromptu jam, the other at a JATP concert. While these albums he taped for Imperial depict him at a joyous period in his early years, few jazz careers enjoy happy endings, this being illustrated by the sad fact that, plagued with cancer, Sonny Criss chose to take his own life when just 50. NB: at a later date Criss and Hansen briefly formed the front line of Buddy Rich's boppish Quintet.