小简介

Al Cohn 在6岁时学弹琴，12岁时接触萨克斯风，其风格主要受Lester Young影响。早期有丰富的大乐团经验，像是Boyd Raeburn的乐队、Budy Rich的团体、Artie Shaw的乐队以及1948-1949年在Woody Herman的大乐团。他和同为萨克斯风手的Stan Getz、Zoot Sims同在一个乐团，而在他们的阴影之下，不易有出头的机会，而使的他的才艺没有被特别注意。50年代中期加入Eliot Lawrence的乐团，并经常与他的长期搭档Zoot Sims录製许多专辑。

An excellent tenor saxophonist and a superior arranger/composer, Al Cohn was greatly admired by his fellow musicians. Early gigs included associations with Joe Marsala (1943), Georgie Auld, Boyd Raeburn (1946), Alvino Rey, and Buddy Rich (1947). But it was when he replaced Herbie Steward as one of the Four Brothers with Woody Hermans Second Herd (1948-1949) that Cohn began to make a strong impression. He was actually overshadowed by Stan Getz and Zoot Sims during this period but, unlike the other two tenors, he also contributed arrangements, including The Goof and I. He was with Artie Shaws short-lived bop orchestra (1949), and then spent the 1950s quite busy as a recording artist (making his first dates as a leader in 1950), arranger for both jazz and non-jazz settings, and a performer. Starting in 1956, and continuing on an irregular basis for decades, Cohn co-led a quintet with Zoot Sims. The two tenors were so complementary that it was often difficult to tell them apart. Al Cohn continued in this fashion in the 1960s (although playing less), in the 1970s he recorded many gems for Xanadu, and during his last few years, when his tone became darker and more distinctive, Cohn largely gave up writing to concentrate on playing. He made many excellent bop-based records throughout his career for such labels as Prestige, Victor, Xanadu, and Concord; his son Joe Cohn is a talented cool-toned guitarist.