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Al Cohn
(1925-1988)

Al Cohn, whose career was closely linked to fellow tenor saxophonist and frequent collaborator Zoot Sims, is revered for his beautiful, soft tone and his skills as a composer and arranger. Early on, the Brooklyn-born Cohn worked as a sideman in groups headed by Georgie Auld, Boyd Raeburn and Buddy Rich. It was in Woody Herman's Second Herd, as one of the famed "Four Brothers" (Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Serge Chaloff were the others) that he began attracting serious attention. Cohn was a member of Artie Shaw's bop orchestra in 1949 and later concentrated on recording and arranging in both the jazz and pop genres. He recorded a number of memorable albums as co-leader of a quintet with Zoot Sims and as leader for the Prestige, Victor, Xanadu and Concord labels. Cohn's most famous compositions include "The Goof and I" and "Ah, Moore" recorded for the Xanadu label in the '70s. In 1981 he scored a "comeback" with the Concord LP Nonpareil label and worked with his guitarist son, Joe.