Zoot Soot

A viewer writes:  "I have just been listening to a recording of 'Dream Dancing' by Mr. Zoot Sims and have been entirely enchanted.  Please tell me, was 'Zoot' his given name?"

Ha ha!  Madam, you have come to the right place!  No, "Zoot" was not the name pronounced at the baptismal font.  The infant tenor saxophonist was christened John Haley Sims.

How, you now wonder, did he acquire the appellation "Zoot"?  It came as a result of his  youthful introduction to the music scene. He performed in a band in which a trio of saxophone players, in rented white dinner jackets, stood behind music stands labeled "Root," "Toot" and "Zoot." 

And Madam, you have guessed it!  He stood behind the stand identifying him as "Root"!

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