The Scott Silbert Quartet, Dream Dancing: Celebrating Zoot Sims at 100

By Icrom Bigrad

Dream Dancing: Celebrating Zoot Sims at 100 is a jazz record that opens the door, pulls up a chair, and starts telling a story about swing. With this centennial tribute to Zoot Sims (1925–1985), tenor saxophonist Scott Silbert is keeping a jazz story alive by inhabiting a lineage. This album lives squarely in the Zoot Sims → Ben Webster → Lester Young continuum, where tone, time, and melodic clarity matter, and swing is a shared language by all ensemble members.

Backed by a deeply sympathetic quartet of Amy Shook on bass, Robert Redd on piano, and Chuck Redd on drums, Silbert delivers a record that plays like a listener-facing live set. Four musicians. One room. No pretense. All feel.

Zoot Sims’ genius was never about reinvention. His sound matured, deepened, and softened over time, but it never lost its warmth or its sense of fun. As Silbert notes in the liner text, Zoot’s style “didn’t change… it matured beautifully.” That philosophy guides Dream Dancing from top to bottom.

This is a record rooted in relationship-driven jazz. The tunes unfold naturally, the tempos match the mood of the melody, and the arrangements give the players room to listen to one another. Nothing is over-arranged. Nothing is overplayed. The music engages the listener to just sit back and enjoy.

This quartet swings because they like each other. Silbert, on tenor and occasional soprano, leads with long-line phrasing, relaxed articulation, and a deeply conversational approach. His improvisations favor motivic development, creating a sound that keeps the music grounded and human. Shook is the engine and the anchor. Her acoustic bass sound is full, woody, and present, and her time feel gives the entire album its buoyancy. As co-composer and executive producer, her imprint is everywhere. Robert provides elegant harmonic framing, especially on the ballads. His comping is spacious and supportive, often leaving just enough air for Silbert’s lines to land cleanly. Chuck is the glue. His drumming is subtle, swinging, and dynamically alert. His interplay with Shook is one of the album’s quiet triumphs, especially on the more up-tempo material.

The album opens with Cole Porter’s “Dream Dancing,” and it’s the perfect tone-setter with its medium romantic Latin feel, unforced propulsion, and a sense of ease that immediately places the listener inside the band’s sound world.

“Louisiana” picks up the pace with blues-inflected drive, letting the swinging rhythm section stretch out and dance. The call-and-response phrasing and compact solos are playful and a joy to hear. The heart of the album lies in its ballads. “It’s That Ole Devil Called Love,” “Deep in a Dream,” and Ellington’s “All Too Soon” showcase Silbert’s ability to let a melody reveal its inner secrets. “You Go To My Head” favors tone, pacing, and emotional contour over ornamentation, exactly the kind of ballad playing that defined Zoot’s later years.

The original “Blues for Louise,” co-written by Silbert and Shook, fits the set’s mood and flow. Medium-up swing feel, conversational, and deeply affectionate, it’s a blues rooted in an ensemble feel from the first chorus. A tonal shift with “Someday Sweetheart,” featuring Silbert on soprano saxophone. The lighter timbre brings a buoyant classic color to the program, offering a smile midway through the set.

Late-night elegance permeates Johnny Mandel’s “Low Life” and Strayhorn’s “Ballad for Very Tired and Very Sad Lotus Eaters,” where the quartet leans into subtle dynamics, inner voice movement, and emotional restraint. These tracks set a mood of relaxation and joy.

“Shadow Waltz” picks up the tempo with Silbert’s tone and articulation, keeping the mood elegant even as the ensemble builds the energy. The closing “Wee Dot” (J.J. Johnson) sends the listener home swinging hard. Bebop-rooted, joyful, it’s a reminder that warmth and energy aren’t opposites; they’re partners.

Dream Dancing is an album that has a sound that lives through people, not concepts. This isn’t an academic tribute. It’s a community record, one that mirrors the way Zoot Sims actually worked, sharing bandstands, trading stories, and swinging night after night with musicians he shared chemistry with. A very enjoyable set of straight-ahead jazz with depth, humility, and joy.

Warmth. Swing. Melody. Human connection. That’s what Dream Dancing: Celebrating Zoot Sims at 100 delivers in full.