Zoot Sims


John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big band, afterward enjoying a long solo career, often in partnership with fellow saxmen Gerry Mulligan and Al Cohn.

Biography

Sims was born in 1925 in Inglewood, California to vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. His father was a vaudeville hoofer, and Sims prided himself on remembering many of the steps his father taught him. Growing up in a performing family, he learned to play drums and clarinet at an early age. His brother was the trombonist Ray Sims.
Following in the footsteps of Lester Young, Sims developed into an innovative tenor saxophonist. Throughout his career, he played with big bands, starting with those of Kenny Baker and Bobby Sherwood after dropping out of high school after one year. He played with Benny Goodman's band in 1943 and replaced his idol Ben Webster in Sid Catlett's Quartet in 1944.
Sims served as a corporal in the United States Army Air Force from 1944 to 1946, then returned to music in the bands of Artie Shaw, Stan Kenton, and Buddy Rich. He was one of Woody Herman's "Four Brothers". He frequently led his own combos and toured with his friend Gerry Mulligan's sextet, and later with Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. Sims rejoined Goodman in 1962 for a tour of the Soviet Union. Sims played on some of Jack Kerouac's recordings.
Sims acquired the nickname "Zoot" early in his career while he was in the Kenny Baker band in California. "When he joined Kenny Baker's band as a fifteen-year-old tenor saxophonist, each of the music stands was embellished with a nonsense word. The one he sat behind said "Zoot." That became his name."
Sims played a 30-second solo on the song "Poetry Man", written by singer Phoebe Snow on her debut eponymous album in 1974. He also played on Laura Nyro's "Lonely Women", on her album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.
Zoot Sims died of cancer on March 23, 1985 in New York City, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, in Nyack, New York.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Zoot Sims among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Discography

1949-1956

With Pepper Adams
With Trigger Alpert
With Chet Baker
With Count Basie
With Louie Bellson
With Clifford Brown
With Ray Charles
With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
With Al Cohn
With Chris Connor
With Miles Davis
With Kenny Dorham
With Jon Eardley
With Booker Ervin
With Bill Evans
With Art Farmer
With Curtis Fuller
With Benny Goodman
  • 1962: Benny Goodman in Moscow
With Bobby Hackett
With Coleman Hawkins
With Woody Herman
With Jutta Hipp
With Chubby Jackson
With Quincy Jones
With Stan Kenton
With Jack Kerouac
With Irene Kral
With Elliot Lawrence
With Michel Legrand
With Stan Levey and Red Mitchell
With The Manhattan Transfer
With Gary McFarland
With Ted McNabb
With Carmen McRae
With the Metronome All-Stars
With Charles Mingus
With Red Mitchell
With Jack Montrose
With Gerry Mulligan
With Oliver Nelson
With Anita O'Day
With Bob Prince
  • 1959: Saxes Inc.
With Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton
  • 1974: Transition
With Shorty Rogers
  • 1954: Shorty Rogers Courts the Count
With Jimmy Rushing
  • 1971: The You And Me That Used To Be
With Lalo Schifrin and Bob Brookmeyer
  • 1963: Samba Para Dos
With Johnny Smith
  • 1956: Moonlight in Vermont with Stan Getz
With Phoebe Snow
  • 1974: Phoebe Snow
With Sonny Stitt
  • 1965: Broadway Soul
With Clark Terry
  • 1979: Mother! Mother!
With Sarah Vaughan
With Joe Venuti
With Chuck Wayne
With Joe Williams