mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (03/26/85)
Tenor Saxophonist Zoot Sims died Friday (3/22) of cancer. He was 59. Sims was, with Stan getz, the best of the white Lester Young disciples who made the scene in the early 50s, usually in the Woody Herman and Stan Kenton bands. Those two soon internalized their Lestorian heritage in developing independent musical personalities. But where Getz made himself the master of the ballad, Sims' territory was the mid tempo standard. There he could combine to best advantage his burnished, deep tone with the light swinging touch he learned from the Prez. In that territory, he was second to none, as can be evidenced by his last two albums, THE SOPRANO SAX and SUDDENLY IT'S SPRING, both on Pablo. Sims was active up to the last; he headlined at the Vanguard last Christmas season. He was one of the best practitioners of the craft of jazz, always a joy to hear, because he always seemed to enjoy listening himself. We'll miss him much. RIP Marcel Simon