jazz...."with strings"

[Guest ariceffron]

i would like as many obscure reccomendations as possible please. ill start by mentioning cal tjader's latin for lovers album. tjader's latin band...with strings! hell yeah. lets name a bunch and talk about them and shit

[Rooster_Ties]

Greg Osby - Symbols of Light (A Solution)

[danasgoodstuff]

OK,

I'm not familiar (sp?) with the Tjader but I do have a few other ...w/ strings dates I can reccomend: 1) Clifford Brown w/ Strings - the strings writting isn't much but it's Clifford playing ballads so the rest doesn't really matter; 2) Winter Moon by Art Pepper - good string writting for a relatively small section, great playing by Art but mixed bag material; 3) Focus by Stan Getz - great string writting, great Getz.

[mikeweil]

This one is at the very top of my list:

Other favourites:

[Chuck Nessa]

My first 2 choices are by Lee Konitz - An Image (on Verve) and Strings for Holiday (on Enja). A sleeper is The Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt arranged by Ralph Burns.

[Green Dolphin]

Can only second Chuck with the two Konitz,have a big soft spot for Jarrett's "Arbour Zena",some bits of Getz's "Focus"(it palls after a while).More modern stuff is Henri Texier's Strings Spirit and the Dave Douglas string group,although I realise these are smaller string sections.

The Mahavishnu's Apocalypse I recall being pretty awful,but perhaps it's due a reappraisal.

[brownie]

One date with strings I was relistening this weekend is the Sonny Stitt with Strings 'Tribute to Ellington' album on Catalyst with a rhythm section (Gildo Mahones is on piano) and a string section playing intelligent arrangements by Bill Finnegan.

'It Don't Mean a Thing' gets a renewed treatment. The session obviously inspired Stitt who made one his best later appearances.

Edited October 26, 2003 by brownie

[Free For All]

I really like Shirley Horn's Here's To Life which has some beautiful arrangements by Johnny Mandel.

[JSngry]

I like Wynton's HOT HOUSE FLOWERS. Wynton plays rather nicely, if Wyntony, but with arrangements like those that Robert Freedman provides, that's enough to make for a good album.

[JSngry]

"Mother Wit" on IMPACT.

[brownie]

Obscure but beautiful is the Johnny Hodges 'The Prettiest Gershwin' that was released on Verve. A With Strings date recorded in Germany. Not sure it was released on CD.

[JSngry]

Oh, OBSCURE! Sorry, shoulda read the fine print...

Brownie's mention of hodges reminds me of his '60s Verve THE ELEVENTH HOUR, with arrangements by Oliver Nelson. Ostensibly an "easy listening" date, the listening is anything BUT easy if you pay close attention to some of Nelson's delightfully subversive perversions of what an "easy listening' date is supposed to sound like.

And this one totally obscure Bill Watrous album on the totally obscure MTA label (can't remember the name, but it's a typically lenghty and silly 60s type thing) has strings, voices, vibes, and heavy reverb in conjunction with something/somebody called The Walter Rain Concept that can best (only?) be described as "avant garde muzak", keeping in mind that by "muzak" I am referring to a generic description of a certain type of music, not the specific output of a specific company.

Whatever, it's a trip of an album.

[A Lark Ascending]

Here's a relatively recent one that uses strings that I like.

As a rule I'm not keen on strings in jazz...especially sung jazz. Arrangers tend to go for the Tchaikovsky/Rachmaninov style of string writing; Bartok or Stravinsky always strike me as better models for jazz.

Edited October 26, 2003 by Bev Stapleton

[Guest ariceffron]

don byas with strings on battle records oh eyeah!

[pryan]

[paul secor]

Don't know how "obscure" this is, but Benny Carter recorded with strings on 2/3rds of his Cosmopolite album.

Not obscure, but one that's put down as one of his least, is Paul Desmond's Desmond Blue LP. I happen to like it, but I like Desmond's playing a lot.

The Vera Beths String Quartet plays with the Willem Breuker Kollektief on the Rhapsody in Blue LP. Also, there are strings on Breuker's Doodzonde LP.

Also, a couple of ringers - probably not what you're looking for here, but what the hey: Leo Smith is accompanied by three harps on "The Burning of Stones" on his Spirit Catcher LP.

And violin, viola (played by Jimbo Ross - how many viola players have you come across named Jimbo?), and cello comprise 3/5ths of the Buell Neidlinger quintet on Blue Chopsticks (K2B2).

[Tom Storer]

Only ten years old but already obscure, I fear: Sheila Jordan's "Heart Strings" on Muse. Out of print. Jordan is accompanied by Alan Broadbent, Harvie Swartz and Marvin "Smitty" Smith, with a string quartet playing Broadbent's arrangements, which are fantastic. Beautiful singing and playing, and a great selection of songs, including "Haunted Heart," "Out to Sea," which is Tom Harrell's "Sail Away" with lyrics, and her best performance of "Inch Worm."

Edited October 26, 2003 by Tom Storer

[stevebop]

Too new to be obscure but the new one by trumpet playerJeremy Pelt on MaxJazz has a string quartet on most of the tracks including a beautiful version of Mingus' Weird Nightmare.

Also don't overlook Makanda Ken McIntyre's string session, Way Way Out (he HATED the title of that LP) originally on United Artists but reissued on Blue Note.

Always Know,

Steve Schwartz

Jazz from Studio Four

Fridays, 7p-12a

WGBH, 89.7FM, Boston

www.wgbh.org

[Brownian Motion]

Here's another vote for Eddie Sauter-Stan Getz and "Focus". Decent string writing makes all the difference. I like Bird with strings, but that's only because I like Bird.

[Guest ariceffron]

WHY ISNT THERE COLTRANE w/ STRINGS?? THAT WOULD OF BEEN A MASTERPICE OF AN LP....

[Late]

I'll second the recommendation of the Ken McIntyre UA session. If you can find that puppy, pick it up! My favorite "with strings" album.

[brownie]

Aric rightfully mentions the Don Byas session with strings. I'll add the Ben Webster sessions (with strings arrangements by Billy Strayhorn and Ralph Burns) 'Music With Feeling' and 'Music For Loving' that were reunited a few years ago on a 2CD Verve set with a Harry Carney With Strings session added.

Ben Webster's sound was a natural for strings accompaniment and made the most of it. Superb sessions that should not be overlooked.

[Nate Dorward]

Konitz, yes--but you guys missed the lovely Plays French Impressionist Music, with the Axis String Quartet, on Palmetto. It's superb.

I rather like Joe Lovano's Rush Hour. There are two or three dull Lovano/Silvano duos as interludes, but those are easily ignorable: the full-orchestra tracks are lovely.

Though Coltrane didn't do a with-strings album per se, I seem to recall that Alice Coltrane did overdub strings & harp onto a posthumously released John Coltrane album.

Moving off into singer+strings albums, those June Christy/Pete Rugolo albums are fine, fine things. There's also a rather nifty track on Patricia Barber's Verse (only one strings track on the album, though).

[Guest ariceffron]

I AM TELLNng you today on my areas local jazz station (kplu) on my favorite program on it, today they played a lot of june christy and it was sad because it was dark at like 5 o clock and all gloomy and moise. i like june christy in the day time with sun and things like maybe a long island iced tea, like as dipicted on the back of her most famous lp. anyaays you know how they said desmond sounded like a dry martini,---- well i dunno exactly what the hells up w/ that but to me junes voice kind of has a 'dry' sensibility but i mean that in a good way as its very unique and very very pleasing. she is also quite pretty and could easily make my top 10 women of the 50s im going to do once the time machine is perfected-list.

but what the hell is up w/ how the original lps dont list the players like bud shank, bobby cooper and shorty rodgers and all of those people. what the hell did they just assume people didnt care that much. or it didnt add to the relaxing cool breeze or whatnot. waht thehell

[brownie]

One of Coleman Hawkins most obscure albums (don't think it got the CD treatment) was his Capitol LP 'The Gilded Hawk', a 1956 date with string arrangements by Glenn Osser. Will have to dig this out some day. Nothing essential but the Hawk always delivered.