Zoot Sims & Bucky Pizzarelli - Elegiac (1996)

This is the kind of music that does not require detailed analysis. He easily overcomes all stylistic and temporal barriers, charm and validity. Of course, there are moments that need to be savored — direct hints of Lester Young's phrases during Lester Leaps In, for example, but it is the totality of the music that is impressive. Zoot Sims was a reasonable man when it came to choosing material from the All American Song book, as he knew it all. The two men heard here had so much in common that they deserve to be put together as one of jazz's greatest duos, along with such memorable couples as Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Ruby Braff and George Barnes and, of course, Django Reinhardt and Stefan Grappelli. This is music in the great traditions of jazz, performed by two experts. Let's leave the last word about Zoet's artistry to Dave Jelly in these last years of his life: "he reached that rare stage of mastery where he could just play a melody and make it sound like he had just invented it."