Search - Si Zentner :: Thinking Man's Band//Waltz in Jazz Time

Crazy Big Value! A Two-Fer

John P Bernat | Kingsport, TN USA | 03/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You can't go wrong here. You get two very solid digital remasters for the price of one! And, as one of the two album titles suggest, Si put together a "thinking man's band."



Si Zentner was exceedingly popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His music is still very listenable today. His instrument was the slide trombone. In his own playing, he insisted on 100% professionalism - extremely clean and crisp execution.



And he asked that of his players as well. So his sound comes across well today, albeit that it's hard to fit into a convenient pigeonhole. It's not "easy listening" or smooth jazz. And it is not very improvisational, either. If it had been performed a decade before, it would almost certainly have made it into the "Standards" catalog so dominated by the Dorseys, Glen Miller and Alvy Taylor.



As it is, he competes with a dwindling number of "latter day" bandleaders, like Nelson Riddle, and simply cannot command the same name recognition. However, that said, give his stuff a listen! You'll hear intelligent, clean, competent playing which really swings."