Born: November 24, 1925 | Died: February 15, 1988 Primary Instrument: Sax, tenor
Cohn was initially known for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff. Unlike his the better known tenors Sims and Getz, Cohn contributed arrangements to the Herman band. After leaving the Herman group Cohn went on to play with a variety of other musicians but his most well known association was with Zoot Sims whom he co-led a quintet starting in 1956. They continued to play together sporadically until the death of Sims. The high point of their recorded output can be found on “You 'n' Me” which was released on Mercury Records in 1960.
In addition to his work as a jazz tenor saxophonist, Al Cohn wrote arrangements for the Broadway productions of “Raisin” and “Sophisticated Ladies”.
His son Joe Cohn is a talented guitarist.
Cohn died in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
