Zoot Sims – "Live" In Philly

Nobody seems to know when this session was recorded -- guesses range from the "early '70s" to the "mid '80s." The session features Benny Aronov on piano, Major Holley on bass, and the fantastic Mickey Roker on drums. From Zoot's sound alone I would say this is probably from the later end of the proposed dates, but my ears are probably deceiving me -- Zoot worked with Holley and Roker in the mid-'70s, and the songs played here are also ones he mostly recorded from 1974-'78. In any case, Zoot is tremendous on this, as he always was. However, Aronov's piano solos go on forever, and he almost seems insecure in the presence of the great Zoot and thus overplays like crazy. I'm not a big fan of Holley's unison bass-and-scat-singing routine either, and he gets an entire track ("Polka Dots and Moonbeams") to himself. When Zoot comes back in, it's always a relief. I'm not sure if this was a local group that Zoot sat in with (Roker was definitely based in Philly) but they don't really come together, and there's lots of more satisfying Zoot recordings from this period.