When Zoot Met the Gershwins
Sims brings a warm, conversational tone to standards that deserved a fresh hearing.
By 1975, Zoot Sims had been playing tenor saxophone professionally for decades, and he'd earned a reputation as a reliable, swinging player who could hold his own in any setting. This album finds him working through a batch of George and Ira Gershwin compositions—the kind of American songbook material that jazz musicians had been tackling since the 1930s. What's worth noting is that Sims doesn't reinvent these tunes or approach them with the kind of architectural ambition some players brought to the songbook. Instead, he plays them straight, with a warm and slightly breathy tone that makes even familiar melodies feel like something a friend is telling you over a drink.
The Gershwin catalog had been mined thoroughly by jazz musicians by this point, so the question with any new recording is whether the player has anything genuine to say. Sims wasn't a revolutionary—he was a working saxophonist who understood swing and how to phrase a melody with taste. That's exactly what this album delivers. There's no heavy-handed reharmonization or attempts to prove anything. Just competent, easygoing interpretations of standards that benefit from Sims's directness and lack of pretense.
This sits comfortably within Sims's body of work as a solid professional effort rather than a peak moment or a departure. It's the kind of record that works best if you already appreciate his approach to the tenor saxophone—if you value clarity and swing over spectacle. If you're new to Sims, you might want to hear him in a more dynamic setting first. But if you know his work and enjoy the Gershwin songbook, this one's worth your time.
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More by Zoot Sims
All 11 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
