After Sidney Bechet, few jazz players specialized in the soprano saxophone. That changed in 1960 when John Coltrane recorded "My Favorite Things" on soprano. Legions of jazz saxophonists, inspired by Coltrane, took up the instrument. Suddenly, the landscape was alive with Coltrane soprano clones. A few saxophonists whose individuality was firmly in place also adopted the maverick instrument. Zoot Sims simply applied to the soprano the same qualities that had made his tenor playing one of the joys of modern jazz: perfect intonation, purity of melodic invention, and his nonpareil ability to swing from a flat-footed start. In this 1976 album with a rhythm section that shared his values, Sims addresses six standard songs and two originals in ways to make you forget that anyone else ever played the soprano sax.

with Ray Bryant, George Mraz, Grady Tate