Zoot greets Getz

Zoot Sims, Tião Neto, Stan Getz at A&R Studios, NYC. March 18/19, 1963
(Photo by Jim Marshall. Source: JazzTimes.)

Zoot Sims (left) and Stan Getz (right) had a common history beginning in the summer of 1947 in a rehearsal band for which Gene Roland wrote the arrangements. This eight-piece group led by trumpet player Tommy DeCarlo and also comprising Herbie Steward and Jimmy Giuffre was spotted by Ralph Burns and eventually led to Woody Herman's signing the saxes minus Giuffre—Herman had already signed Serge Chaloff for the bari chair.

Fast forward to 1963 and this possible scenario: Stan Getz is recording at A&R, Phil Ramone's first studio, at 112 West 48th Street in Manhattan, upstairs from the notorious musicians' hang-out Jim & Andy's, which famously had an intercom connecting the bar with the studio upstairs. Sims, a regular, "happens" to be at Jim & Andy's, gets wind of the session and goes up to say hello and hear what's happening.

Given that in the photo above the man in the middle is Brazilian bassist Tião Neto and that the studio is indeed A&R, this photograph must have been taken during the recording of Getz/Gilberto, on March 18 or 19, 1963.

Even though it's not as well-known as Getz's efforts, Zoot had a go at bossa nova too (in August and November of 1962, for the ColPix label).