MP3 Exclusives New Arrivals   Alt-Country Alternative Blues Electronic Jambands Jazz Metal Pop Punk R&B Rap/Hip Hop Reggae Rock   Top Downloads Features Archive Contests Control Panel MUSICBLITZ Alert!   METALBLITZ REGGAEBLITZ BLUESBLITZ Musician's Friend   Alt-Country Alternative Blues Electronic Jambands Jazz Hip Hop Metal Pop Punk R&B Reggae Rock   Getting Started Free Players	Welcome !      Zoot Sims A consummate showman who played with some of the greatest-ever big bands, John Haley “Zoot” Sims was also a top tenor saxophonist who never ran out of ideas. In fact, unlike most artists, Sims did some of his greatest work towards the end of his life. A California native whose parents were in vaudeville, Sims played drums and clarinet as a kid, but switched to tenor at age 13 and turned pro just two years later, in 1940. His first major gig was with Bobby Sherwood’s orchestra, but when he joined Benny Goodman is 1943, it was the start of a beautiful friendship that lasted, off and on, for some 30 years. A WWII stint with Uncle Sam interrupted Sims’ career, but when he got out he rejoined Goodman for a couple of memorable years, then became even better known as a member of Woody Herman’s big band from 1949 to 1951. Sims was one of the “Four Brothers” in Herman’s Second Herd -- joining Stan Getz, Herb Steward and Jimmy Giuffre as part of a killer sax section. Sims spent the next couple of years bouncing around, playing with Goodman and Buddy Rich, before striking out on his own as a bandleader. He led several quartets and quintets, but also sparred with saxman Al Cohn on a series of records, played with Getz and Gerry Mulligan as a sideman, and toured the U.S.S.R. with Goodman in 1962. Sims started playing soprano in the early ‘70s, and some of his sessions that decade on the Pablo label -- like the self-explanatory but lovely Zoot Plays Soprano and Basie and Zoot, a swinging collaboration with the Count -- are among his best-ever. Sims died at age 60 in 1985.     Zoot Sims In A Mellow Tone PlayJ Jazz Duke suits Zoot fine on this workmanlike live swinger from the City of Brotherly Love.
|   Privacy Policy   |   Company   |   Contact    |   Press    |   Jobs    | ©1999-2001 MUSICBLITZ. All right reserved.