Zoot Sims › Similar Artists

Shorty Rogers - 100% match to Zoot Sims

Milton Rajonsky, 14 April 1924, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA, d. 7 November 1994, Van Nuys, California, USA. After studying in New York, Rogers played trumpet in the bands of Will Bradley, where he first met Shelly Manne, and Red Norvo. Military service interrupted his career, but in 1945 he joined Woody Herman for a spell, during which he also wrote a number of bop- Read more

Sonny Stitt - 69% match to Zoot Sims

Edward Boatner Stitt, 2 February 1924, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, d. 22 July 1982, Washington, DC, USA. Starting out on alto saxophone, Stitt gained his early experience playing in the big bands led by Tiny Bradshaw and Billy Eckstine. Influenced by Charlie Parker and by the many fine young beboppers he encountered on the Eckstine band, Stitt quickly developed into a formid Read more

Al Cohn - 68% match to Zoot Sims

24 November 1925, New York City, New York, USA, d. 15 February 1988, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. As a teenager Cohn gained experience playing the tenor saxophone with Joe Marsala and Georgie Auld, for whom he also arranged. A forward-thinking musician, Cohn worked extensively in big bands during the mid-late 40s, most famously as a member of Woody Herman’s Four Brot Read more

Scott Hamilton - 66% match to Zoot Sims

12 September 1954, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. As a child, Hamilton began playing clarinet, on which he had a few lessons, and piano. He then briefly played blues harmonica in a rock ‘n’ roll band. He took up tenor saxophone as a young teenager, teaching himself largely by listening to records in his father’s collection. These records were by jazzmen of the Read more

Phil Woods - 63% match to Zoot Sims

2 November 1931, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. Woods began playing alto saxophone as a child, studied later at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and by his early 20s had already made a significant mark on jazz. Playing hard bop and acknowledging Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker but never slavishly so, Woods became a vital force in jazz in the late 50s. He led his o Read more

Benny Golson - 62% match to Zoot Sims

25 January 1929, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. After receiving tuition on the piano as a child, Golson began playing tenor saxophone professionally in 1951 in Bullmoose Jackson’s R&B band. It was here that he first met Tadd Dameron, who had a great influence upon his writing. In the early and mid-50s he played in bands led by Dameron, Lionel Hampton and Earl Bost Read more

Jimmy Raney - 62% match to Zoot Sims

James Elbert Raney, 20 August 1927, Louisville, Kentucky, USA, d. 10 May 1995, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. After working in the New York and Chicago areas, in bands led by Jerry Wald and Lou Levy, guitarist Raney joined Woody Herman in 1948. Thereafter he played and recorded with a number of leading swing era veterans and up-and-coming stars including Artie Shaw, Stan Getz, T Read more

Gerry Mulligan - 56% match to Zoot Sims

Gerald Joseph Mulligan, 6 April 1927, New York City, New York, USA, d. 19 January 1996, Darien, Connecticut, USA. Raised in Philadelphia, Mulligan started out on piano before concentrating on arranging. He also took up the saxophone, first the alto and a few years later the baritone. Among the name bands that used his arrangements were those led by Gene Krupa and Claude Thor Read more

Lee Konitz - 56% match to Zoot Sims

Art Farmer - 53% match to Zoot Sims

Arthur Stewart Farmer, 21 August 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA, d. 4 October 1999, New York City, New York, USA. While still a child Farmer moved first to Phoenix, Arizona, then to Los Angeles. This was in the mid-40s, and during the next few years Farmer played trumpet in various name bands, including those led by Jay McShann and Benny Carter, and worked and recorded with Read more

Chris Connor - 53% match to Zoot Sims

8 November 1927, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. After singing publicly while still at school, Connor worked with the bands of Claude Thornhill, where she was a member of the vocal group, the Snowflakes, and Herbie Fields in the late 40s and early 50s. Audibly influenced by Anita O’Day, Connor quickly developed her own recognizable style and built a localized reputation. Ha Read more

Art Pepper - 50% match to Zoot Sims

1 September 1925, Gardena, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 15 June 1982, Panorama City, California, USA. Pepper started out on clarinet at the age of nine, switching to alto saxophone four years later. After appearing in school groups, he first played professionally with Gus Arnheim’s band. During his mid-teens he developed his jazz style sitting in with otherwise all- Read more

Benny Carter - 50% match to Zoot Sims

Bennett Lester Carter, 8 August 1907, New York City, New York, USA, d. 12 July 2003, Los Angeles, California, USA. Carter was born and raised in the area of New York known as San Juan Hill, a tough neighbourhood. His working-class parents encouraged their children to take up music and Carter and his two sisters received piano tuition from their mother, Sadie Bennett Carter. Read more

Gene Ammons - 47% match to Zoot Sims

Eugene Ammons, 14 April 1925, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 6 August 1974, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Ammons chose to make the tenor saxophone his instrument in preference to the piano played by his father, the famous boogie-woogie exponent Albert Ammons. Gene left school at the age of 18 and within two years was a member of Billy Eckstine’s bebop-orientated big band. Despite Read more

Milt Jackson - 45% match to Zoot Sims

1 January 1923, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 9 October 1999, New York City, New York, USA. Jackson’s first professional engagement, at the age of 16, was in his home town, playing the vibraphone alongside tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson (one year his junior). Jackson benefited from the 40s loose attitude towards band personnel, spending six years accompanying visiting mu Read more