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Zoot Sims

One of the leading tenor saxophonists of his time, John Haley “Zoot” Sims belonged to nearly every crucial big band orchestra at one point or another, epitomized the smooth sound of his instrument, and would be immortalized by a Muppet bearing his nickname. Born in Southern California to a performing family, Sims worked through a succession of instruments before picking up the tenor sax (and the nickname “Zoot”, for a nonsense word once written on his music stand) in the late 1930s. Proving wildly precocious, Sims played in both Bobby Sherwood’s Orchestra and Benny Goodman’s big ...