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Al Cohn & Zoot Sims: Easy As Pie
by AAJ Staff
Once again, Label M mines the vast resources of jazz performances that Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society sagaciously recorded, knowing that they were hearing unparalleled music in their midst but not knowing that it would entertain jazz listeners thirty-plus years hence. It seems that the Left Bank group was at its best when it recorded horns, and particularly saxophonists. Even on Easy As Pie, Dave Frishberg's piano lacks clarity due to the on-site instrument's limitations. Unfortunately, the same problem occurred ...
Continue ReadingZoot Sims Quartet: Zoot At Ease
by Mike Neely
When Zoot Sims was “on” there were few saxophonists who could equal his seemingly effortless solos. He played with a rich bluesy tone that epitomized graceful, modern swing. Recorded in 1973, Zoot At Ease caught Zoot Sims at his best. But that’s not all: add a consistently inspired Hank Jones on piano, Milt Hinton on bass, and either Louis Bellson or Grady Tate on drums, and you have one helluva swinging band and one of the great Sims performances on ...
Continue ReadingZoot Sims/Al Cohn/ Tony Scott: East Coast Sounds
by AAJ Staff
Ah, the circumstances that made dates like this possible. Trigger Alpert was a good walking bass of the old school; he played with Mundell Lowe and the folk singer Bob Gibson. He proposed a pianoless date with a lot of swinging, and set out looking for horns. He found them, all right: one look at the cast will make your mouth water – and he also got charts by Marty Paich and Dick Hyman. The sound is tight, and while ...
Continue ReadingChet Baker: Chet Baker and Strings
by C. Michael Bailey
With Strings. I have been listening to a several recordings of Jazz artists performing with a string section, including: Clifford Brown With Strings (Emarcy 814 642), Charlie Parker with Strings (Verve 314 523), Art Pepper's Winter Moon (OJC 677), Wynton Marsalis' Midnight Blues: Standard Time Volume 5 (Columbia 68921), and most recently, Chet Baker and Strings (Columbia Legacy 65562). I am enamored with all of these discs. Some of them have stood the test of time, some have not. They ...
Continue ReadingZoot Sims/Al Cohn/Phil Woods: Jazz Alive! A Night At The Half Note
by John Sharpe
Although Al and Zoot recorded this session in 1959, this simpatico tenor duo would continue to record together right until the late 70s. Jazz Alive! gives you a taste of a “typical" night at a hot New York jazz club. Sims and Cohn are accompanied by the rhythm team of Mose Allison (piano), Paul Motian (drums) and Nabil Totah (bass) on the first two tracks and then high-flying altoist Phil Woods joins the group for two more numbers. The program ...
Continue ReadingZoot Sims: "Live" In Philly
by Douglas Payne
Tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims (1925-85) is more often heard about than heard. He came out of the big bands of Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton and, later, Gerry Mulligan. But he garnered real attention in the late forties as part of Woody Herman's “Four Brothers" band, which also included Stan Getz. When Sims pursued a career of his own, he was often heard in the company of fellow tenor player Al Cohn (their 32Jazz disc, Body and Soul, is definitive) or ...
Continue ReadingAl Cohn & Zoot Sims: Body and Soul
by Joel Roberts
This 1973 date, just reissued with fancy new packaging by 32 Jazz, is a thoroughly enjoyable, low-key blowing session featuring the two tenor titans backed by an excellent veteran rhythm section of Jaki Byard, George Duvivier, and Mel Lewis. Both Cohn and Sims are supremely smooth and effortlessly swinging tenor players in the Lester Young mode, and they complement each other perfectly here. Longtime friends and colleagues, dating back to their days as part of Woody Herman's “Four ...
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