Dans cette version de "Passion Flower", issue de l’album Zoot Sims "Plays Duke Ellington", Zoot Sims rend hommage à l’univers raffiné de Duke Ellington avec une sensibilité remarquable. Entouré de Jimmy Rowles au piano, John Heard à la contrebasse et Shelly Manne à la batterie, le saxophoniste s’inscrit dans une formation intimiste qui privilégie l’écoute et la nuance.

Le morceau se distingue par son atmosphère feutrée et élégante. Le phrasé de Sims, à la fois fluide et expressif, s’étire avec naturel sur une harmonie délicate, soutenue par un accompagnement subtil et parfaitement équilibré. Chaque musicien contribue à créer une texture sonore chaleureuse, laissant respirer les silences autant que les notes.

Cette interprétation met en lumière toute la profondeur mélodique de la composition originale, en lui apportant une touche de modernité et de liberté propre au jazz des années 1980. Passion Flower devient ici une véritable parenthèse musicale, idéale pour les amateurs de jazz raffiné et d’ambiances intimistes.

Musicians :
Zoot Sims (tenor saxophone), Jimmy Rowles (piano), John Heard (bass), Shelly Manne (drums), J.J. Johnson, Britt Woodman (trombone), Oscar Brashear, Al Aarons, Bobby Bryant (trumpet), Frank Wess, Marshall Royal, Buddy Collette (saxophone, flute), Jimmy Rowles (piano), Andy Simpkins (bass), Grady Tate (drums).

- Zoot Sims "Passion Flower" Zoot Sims Plays Duke Ellington, 180 gram vinyl !
- Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape !
- Pressed at Quality Record Pressings !
- Housed in a Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket !

Here is an album of Duke Ellington compositions arranged and conducted by Benny Carter, with Zoot Sims as principal soloist. Add those names to the list of musicians in the adjoining display and you get a total greater than the sum of its parts. Among the many albums Sims made for Pablo, the Ellington project was particularly close to his heart. The Ellington band of 1940 and '41 was a formative influence on the young tenor man setting out on his career.

The great tenor saxophonist Ben Webster's solos profoundly affected him. It is true that his tone was closer to Lester Young's, but Webster's conception was always a major component of Sims's style, and toward the end of his life Zoot's sound took on more of Webster's heft and darkness. Fittingly, he and Webster's favorite pianist, Jimmy Rowles, do Bojangles to a rare turn, and Sims gives an achingly beautiful reading of Duke's "Your Love Has Faded".

Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape, and pressed at Quality Record Pressings for optimal sound quality, this Analogue Productions 180 gram reissue is an exceptional audiophile disc. Housed in a gatefold Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket.