Zoot Sims: One of the Four Brothers

Album Title: Zoot Suite
Artist(s)  Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman Orchestra (1947-50)
Release Label: Jazz Archives No. 191
Recording Dates:  1947 - 1950

Woody Herman's various 'Herd' ensembles are probably best remembered, even within casual jazz circles, for his amazing reed sections during the late forties and early fifties. With each succeeding  re-assembling of these great bands, and there were several, the personnel changed as did the reeds, which had come to be known as the 'Four Brothers'. What fantastic aggregations these Woody Herman bands were! 

Woody began to shape the 'Woody Herman Orchestra' sound in 1943, pre-dating the bebop era, at least by a couple of years. Up to that time, his bands had gotten the rep as 'The band that plays the blues', but  with early modern jazz vocalist, Mary Ann McCall, and some of the others listed below, what had been a  distinctively Dixieland inflected sound gradually evolved into something suspiciously similar to the new music that  Diz, Bird and Monk had begun to toy around with in the mid to late forties. Herman rarely gets credit for being one of the first - if not THE first - big band leaders to pioneer the revolutionary genre in jazz that we know today as bepop.

(Photo: Woody Herman Orchestra of today) 

If anyone ever tries to stump you by asking you to name the original Four Brothers of jazz music, here's your answer, and it's readily apparent on the second track of this album, 'Four Brothers'. The makeup of the sax section on this, the first recording of the piece that's now a jazz classic, was: Woody Herman who played both clarinet and alto sax, but, for purposes of this trivia answer, was not considered to be one of the 'Brothers'. The original 'Four Brothers' were all saxophones: Herbie Steward on alto and tenor, Stan Getz, tenor, Zoot Sims, tenor and Serge Chaloff on bari. Getz later characterized the group as 'four drug addicts and a clean man', leaving future generations to sort them out.

As an added  trivia bonus, you can throw in the tid-bit that alto player, Sam Marowitz  was also in that section but, for whatever reason, also was not included in the 'Brothers' group. It's possible that he was the 'clean' one to whom Getz referred, and therefore, an 'outcast'.

And if they're not completely stunned by now, you can add  one more: Neither Ralph Burns , piano player, writer and Herman arranger, nor Neal Hefti, as is commonly assumed, wrote Four Brothers'  That distinction belongs to jazz clarinetist, Jimmy Giuffre.

There were many other notables playing in that band as well as the bands that followed- too many to name them all - but to list a few: Trumpet player, writer and arranger extraordinaire, Neal Hefti, Ernie Royal, Shorty Rogers, Al Cohn,  Brew Moore, Roy Eldridge, Conte Condoli, Bill Harris, Walter Bishop, Gerry Mulligan,  Allen Eager, and one of my all-time favorite drummers, Don Lamond. On this Zoot Suite album there are cuts from all of them and more.
(Photo, Left: Zoot Sims)

Of course there are other re-mastered tracks on this historic collection, with Zoot Sims starring in all of them. By listening to them, any jazz fan can immediately understand why Sims, even at the age of 15 when he 'turned pro'  right up to the time of his untimely death in 1985, John Haley 'Zoot' Sims was considered by his peers and his fans alike to be something very special.

Since all of the tenor saxophone players showcased on this album are from the Lester Young 'School
of Cool', it might be a bit of a challenge to distinguish in their solo work, exactly where one leaves off and the other begins. Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Allen Eager, Herbie Steward and Brew Moore - such great players. The best listening approach might be to just kick back and enjoy the music, whomever is playing it, because it's all wonderful.

For those whose interest in modern jazz music places a high regard on being in at the very beginnings -  those who feel an urge to hear those true artists who helped get us to where we are today, this album is an essential part in the progression of its history during what are probably the most important years in its nearly three-quarters of a century of evolution. This album is an absolute 'must have'.       (Photos Left: Stan Getz, Right, Al Cohn)

Comments

[Michele Scasso]

Great,...I love Sims!

[Loren Abbey]

Yeah, Zoot was really something special. While researching this piece, I ran across some of the funnier stuff he is reported to have said over the years. You can check them out under today's post, which I titled 'The humor of Zoot Sims'.

I'd like to hear your comments, and thanks for reading our blog and for commenting.

[greg hester]

About 16 years ago I was playing John Barlycorns in Santa Rosa and a young woman came up to me and said that we played music like her dad. I asked who her dad was and she said Zoot Sims. Never saw her again but what a great compliment.

greg hester