JazzWax

Zoot Sims: Gone With the Wind

In November 1984, Zoot Sims was in Lidingö, Sweden, with Red Mitchell on bass and Rune Gustafsson on guitar. He was interviewed on-camera by Mitchell, and the trio performed Gone with the Wind, In a Sentimental Mood, Autumn Leaves and Castle Blues. Sims died in 1985 and Mitchell in 1992. Gustafsson is still performing.

To some extent, it's unfortunate that Mitchell was Sims' interviewer, since his insider status inadvertently caused him to miss several opportunities to ask obvious followup questions to fill in the blanks that Sims creates with his answers.

But far better that this interview exists than not. It's from Zoot Sims: In a Sentimental Mood, a DVD. A big thanks to Bret Primack for sending along the YouTube link...

 

Herb Jeffries in Action

Before Billy Eckstine, Johnny Hartman, Earl Coleman and virtually all modern, romantic baritones was Herb Jeffries. A movie cowboy in the '30s, Jeffries began his singing career with Earl Hines but made his mark as a balladeer with Duke Ellington. Here are three clips of the crooner:

Flamingo...

 

In My Heart...

 

Poinciana...

 

Duets: Hines, Byard and Wilson

It's easy to forget what great jazz piano sounds like. Here's Earl "Fatha" Hines in three different duet settings—with Jaki Byard, Teddy Wilson and, well, himself...

Cherry...

 

All of Me...

 

Memories of You...

 

Duets: The Singing '60s

Today, a series of duets from 1960s TV shows featuring famed American and British singers. Below, in tandem, are Peggy Lee and Petula Clark, Jack Jones and Shirley Bassey, and Janis Joplin and Tom Jones [Pictured above, Peggy Moffitt Claxton]...

I'm a Woman and Wedding Bell Blues...

 

If (a Picture Paints a Thousand Words)...

 

Raise Your Hand...

 

Duets: Sacha, Mireille and Dionne

I'm on the road again this week, but I haven't forgotten you. Here's the first in a series of fabulous daily videos. Today, '60s French singing sensation Sacha Distel teams wtih Mireille Mathieu on the theme from A Man and A Woman in 1966. Mathieu was a powerful pop singer who emerged in the '60s in France with a voice that critics equated to Edith Piaf's. Next, Distel joins Dionne Warwick in 1964 on two bossa novas:

A Man and A Woman...

 

The Girl From Ipanema and Felicidade...