Jazz / Bop; Cool
Recorded: Dec 13 & 18, 1956, Reeves Sound Studios, New York, New York
Zoot Sims - alto & tenor saxophone
Nick Travis - trumpet
George Handy - piano
Wilbur Ware - bass
Osie Johnson - drums
Zoot Sims made his only Riverside appearance as a leader early in his long career, on this 1956 album that offers a rather odd assortment of talent. Pianist/arranger George Handy did some notable writing in the Forties for the legendary early-modern Boyd Raeburn orchestra, but never fulfilled that promise; Osie Johnson on drums and trumpeter Nick Travis were mainly known as studio musicians; and Wilbur Ware, then newly-arrived on the scene, was basically a hard-bop bassist. The intriguingly constructed material is largely by Handy (although some long-forgotten contractual problems led to his wife being credited as composer!)--and somehow Zoot brings it all together with some remarkable, swinging work on both alto and tenor.
* Carol Reiff Galletly - Cover Photo
* Gary Hobish - Digital Remastering
* Jack Higgins - Engineer
* Orrin Keepnews - Liner Notes, Producer
* Paul Bacon - Typography
For a little while in the mid-'50s, Zoot Sims occasionally doubled on alto although he soon switched back exclusively to tenor where he had a stronger musical personality. On the CD reissue of Riverside's 1956 Zoot!, Sims plays alto on two of the seven tracks and works well with trumpeter Nick Travis. Actually, pianist George Handy, who contributed four originals (two standards and drummer Osie Johnson's "Osmosis" complete the program) and did all of the arranging, comes across as the key supporting player; bassist Wilbur Ware and Johnson are fine in quiet support. Although Handy's arrangements are a bit modern, this is still a typically hard-swinging and melodic Zoot Sims date.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
