Zoot Strikes Again
The wonderful saxophonist Zoot Sims was playing at the Half Note in New York, a New Year’s Eve performance. In honor of the occasion, a local radio station was broadcasting live from the Greenwich Village jazz room. When the clock approached the magic hour of midnight and the beginning of the new year, all eyes were on the bandstand as the band was given its cue. And Zoot put the horn in his mouth and played "Happy Birthday to You!” “Hey, man,” one of the celebrants told Zoot, “on New Year’s Eve, you’re supposed to play “Auld Lang Syne!” “Why, what'd I play?” “You played ‘Happy Birthday!” “Oh. Well, I knew it was something festive.” |