There is a very famous saxophonist that I have until now not written about—and that is indeed an oversight on my part. I can’t believe that in over 3 ½ years of nearly daily entries in The Bassic Sax Blog, I haven’t written an article on Zoot.
Source: muppet.wikia.com
Zoot, the famous sax player who played in the Muppet Orchestra, and ended each episode of the Muppets Show with his trademark final note, seemed to never catch a break.
Regardless though if his solos were overshadowed by another player, his horn started emitting massive quantities of smoke, or if a bee caused him grief like in the following rendition of Honeysuckle Rose, Zoot tried to remain professional.
According to the Muppet Wikipedia, Zoot was designed by Bonnie Erickson after she saw tenor sax player Gato Barbieri. If anyone has seen a photo of Barbieri, this should not come as a surprise.
Source: muppet.wikia.com
Notice anything interesting? Apparently Zoot plays alto and tenor. I’ve only ever seen him with an alto, although many sounds emanating from the horn do sound tenor, or even baritone-like.
There were 2 players that provided the saxophone sounds for Zoot.¹ Frank Reedy was the player who provided the sax playing for the television series The Muppet Show. Reedy got the call, because Dave Goelz—one of the principle Muppet performers for over 35 years—knew him. Goelz would go on to perform the Zoot character, while Reedy would perform the horn lines.
During The Muppet Movie, it was saxophonist David Garland who played the musical part of Zoot.²
So you see, Zoot is the sum of many parts. Physically inspired by Argentinian saxophone great Gato Barbieri, physically performed by Dave Goelz, and musically performed by saxophonists Frank Reedy and David Garland, Zoot embodies the talents of many great artists. For that reason alone—never mind any possible influence his character may have on children and youth wanting to play the sax—my not mentioning him before now was indeed an oversight. My bad.
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Hello to all sax and flute fans.
I now have a new web site. http://www.supersax.co.uk/
Why not take a look, you may find something you like.
John
Thank you John!
Hi John, trying to get in touch but can’t find any contact details for you anywhere. I’m Pat Bell’s son and wanted to get in touch. Thankyou, Christian
I played in John Whelan’s first gig band when we were at school together. He wrote me a short while ago pointing me to his new web site; howsoever I have lost the link. Is there someone out there that can supply his http:// address.
Cheers,
Chris Spreckley
Hi Chris.
I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you what John Whelan’s website address is. I have Googled it, but it doesn’t come up. I could send him a note—provided his email is still the same—and ask him to drop by and leave it here.
The player was indeed Frank Reidy, my great friend……but Frank played the Tenor parts. The Baritone parts, as in the opening & closing music and when the solo was for Baritone sax (including the famous last note) were played by me. I also played the alto solo for the Swedish Chef. I hope this clears up the details. All the players were members of the Jack Parnell TV Orchestra at the time.
Hello John. Welcome to my site.
Thank you for dropping in and clearing up the confusion about the alto/tenor/baritone parts in the Muppets.
I’m sure you know what an influence those characters and those sax lines had on the young children watching them. I’m glad that we’re able to set the record straight as it were, and provide credit to the players who made Zoot’s iconic personality possible.
Thanks again for stopping by John! :saxy:
Hi, one of the best chracters created for the muppet show, I mean, it’s just like everybody imagines a blues-jazz tenor sax player should look like.
Us, sax players are nicknamed tooters, since it’s just about how you move and place your tongue to prouce the sax sound, so I do believe that Zoot could have been a direct adaptation from toot…
…Just guessing
Hi there Sandro. Welcome to my site.
Interesting theory. Just as valid as any of the others.
I myself have never been called a tooter—at least not to my face. 😈
Regardless, Zoot is definitely the hands down most interesting Muppet of the bunch. But hey, I’m biased, and don’t mind admitting it. :saxy:
It’s too bad the the Muppet Wiki—anyone else find it strange that there’s a Muppet Wiki—doesn’t mention where he got his name from. I had always wondered if it was from the Zoot suits.
I thought Zoot was named after the (inappropriately named) Zoot Horn Rollo, of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. I say inappropriate because Zoot Horn Rollo was actually the lead guitarist and didn’t play a horn of any sort.
One of my favorite Muppets although I always thought he was named after Zoot Sims. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88488393 😀