Zoot Sims It Had To Be You

This CD reissue features the great tenor-saxophonist Zoot Sims (who was then 25) leading his first American recording dates. He is heard with two quartets, the team of pianist John Lewis, bassist Curly Russell and drummer Don Lamond and with pianist Harry Biss, bassist Clyde Lombardi and drummer Art Blakey. All but two numbers clock in around the three-minute mark: an over eight-minute alternate version of "Zoot Swings the Blues" and an 11-minute "East of the Sun." Sims is in fine form throughout these cool-toned but hard-swinging sets.

Zoot Sims - That Old Feeling (2005) {4CD Set Quadromania–Membran 222478-444 rec 1944-1956}
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© 1944-56, 2005 Quadromania / Membran Music | 222478-444
Jazz / Bop / Bebop / Cool / Saxophone

New Design Jewel box. Case slightly wider than normal album case, but contains 4 CD! Using 24 Bit - 96 khz - High End Digital Mastering. The result is a warm and more analog sound than you've ever heard before on a CD. This 4 CD package offers nearly 4 hours of music and covers the period 1944 to 1956 in date order. Recording info is given accept where I specify.

John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 - March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano. He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims, and grew up in a performing family. Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age. His father was a vaudeville hoofer and Sims prided himself on remembering many of the steps he taught him. Sims acquired the nickname "Zoot" early in his career while he was in the Kenny Baker band in California.

Scott Hamilton & Bucky Pizzarelli - The Red Door …remember Zoot Sims (1998) {Concord Jazz CCD-4799-2 rec 1995}
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© 1998 Concord Jazz | CCD-4799-2
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone / Guitar

As of 1998, when this CD was released, Scott Hamilton had recorded over 30 albums as a leader for Concord. Although all are quite worthwhile, the swing tenor's consistency and unchanged style since the 1970s have resulted in a certain sameness and predictability to his recordings. This release, however, definitely stands apart from the crowd, for it is a set of tenor/guitar duets that Hamilton performs with Bucky Pizzarelli. A tribute to Zoot Sims (one of Hamilton's early influences), this is a very successful outing. Pizzarelli's mastery of the seven-string guitar allows him to play basslines behind solos, so one never misses the other instruments.

Chuck Wayne's participation in some of the earliest bebop recordings have lead many to conclude that he was purely a bop-style guitar player. Yet on the recordings he made in the mid-1940s, first with the Billy Eckstine Band and later with Dizzy Gillespie, his swing-oriented guitar collides with the "new music" being played by the more modern musicians on the set. It was with George Shearing that Wayne had his greatest success, making a major contribution to the Shearing sound. This particular album reissues two sets cut by Wayne during the 1950s…

Artie Shaw - Self Portrait (2001) {5CD Box Set Bluebird 09026 63808 2 rec 1936-1954}
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© 1936-54, 2001 Bluebird / BMG | 09026 63808 2
Jazz / Bop / Swing / Big Band / Sweet Bands / Clarinet

As a rule, record companies don't give artists the chance to pick the songs when a boxed set is assembled. They might ask the person who writes the liner notes to interview the artist, or they might even have the artist write the liner notes. But the label, not the artist, usually chooses the material. Self Portrait is an exception; when this five-CD, 95-track boxed set was assembled in 2001, a 91-year-old Artie Shaw was given a rare chance to make the selections himself and comment on them. And for those who are seriously into the clarinetist, it is fascinating to see what he chooses. Self Portrait, which spans 1936-1954, contains most of his essential swing, era hits, including "Stardust," "Begin the Beguine," "Frenesi," and his ominous signature tune, "Nightmare."

Zoot Sims - Zoot Sims And The Gershwin Brothers (1975) {OJC Remasters Complete Series rel 2013, item 33of33}
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© 1975, 2013 Pablo / Concord | 40th Anniversary of Pablo Records | 0888072346239
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Saxophone

Concord Music Group will release five new titles in its Original Jazz Classics Remasters series on September 17, 2013. Enhanced by 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, bonus tracks (some previously unreleased), and new liner notes to provide historical context to the originally released material, the series celebrates the 40th anniversary of Pablo Records, the prolific Beverly Hills-based label that showcased some of the most influential jazz artists and recordings of the 1970s and '80s.

During a 30-year period the very complementary tenors Zoot Sims and Al Cohn teamed up on an irregular but always consistently satisfying basis. This club date from Stockholm, one of their final joint recordings, features the pair backed by pianist Claes Croona, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Petur Ostlund. Both Zoot and Cohn sound quite inspired and they really push each other on "Exactly like You," "After You've Gone" (which features Sims on soprano) and even a surprisingly heated version of "The Girl from Ipanema." Al Cohn's tone had deepened during the years and, although they sounded nearly identical in the 1950s, it is quite easy to tell the two tenors apart during this encounter. The CD (available through the Swedish Sonet label) is highly recommended for fans of the saxophonists and for bop collectors in general.