Great film from 1979 with saxophonists Arnett Cobb and Buddy Tate backed by Hank Jones piano, Gene Ramsey bass, and Gus Johnson drums performing Tate's theme song "She Got It".
George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913, Sherman, Texas – February 10, 2001, Chandler, Arizona) was a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. He has been counted as one of the great tenor saxophonists of his generation and was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
Arnett Cobb (August 10, 1918 – March 24, 1989)[ was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Cobb was born Arnette Cleophus Cobbs in Houston, Texas. His musical career began with the local bands of Chester Boone, from 1934 to 1936, and Milt Larkin, from 1936 to 1942 (which included a period on the West Coast with Floyd Ray). Among his bandmates in the Larkin aggregation were Illinois Jacquet, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Tom Archia, Cedric Haywood, and Wild Bill Davis. He replaced Illinois Jacquet in Lionel Hampton's band in 1942, staying with Hampton until 1947. He is credited with the words and music for the jazz standard "Smooth Sailing", 1951. Ella Fitzgerald recorded this for Decca and it can be heard on her album, Lullabies of Birdland.
Cobb then started his own seven-piece band, but suffered a serious illness in 1950, which necessitated spinal surgery. Although he re-formed the band on his recovery, in 1956 its success was again interrupted, this time by a car crash. This had long term effects on his health, involving periods in hospital, and making him permanently reliant on crutches; nevertheless, Cobb worked as a soloist through the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. and Europe. He died in his hometown in March 1989, at the age of 70.
