Clifford Brown With Strings

[Peter Friedman]

Bob Brookmeyer might have been a good arranger for Clifford.

[JSngry]

In 1955?

[JSngry]

Eddie Sauter, maybe? Maybe? In 1955?

Part of it's an A&R issue, the same one that befell Bird, a real lack of understanding of what stings can do in jazz rather than just play pads or otherwise sound "sophisticated" (and in anything BUT that), So the A&R people just want something "nice", not understanding that "nice" and "blah" are not the same thing.

OTOH, Hefti did "Repetition" and that WAS a true landmark (of sorts). But I still look at Hefti as a "singles band". His hits kept coming, but over the long haul....a Greates Hits album works just fine.

But Bob Freedman would have been the guy if chronology was not a real thing:

Clifford's playing with those charts....yeah.

There's not enough Bob Freedman in the world, at least not that I can find.

 

[Larry Kart]

22 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Eddie Sauter, maybe? Maybe? In 1955?

Part of it's an A&R issue, the same one that befell Bird, a real lack of understanding of what stings can do in jazz rather than just play pads or otherwise sound "sophisticated" (and in anything BUT that), So the A&R people just want something "nice", not understanding that "nice" and "blah" are not the same thing.

OTOH, Hefti did "Repetition" and that WAS a true landmark (of sorts). But I still look at Hefti as a "singles band". His hits kept coming, but over the long haul....a Greates Hits album works just fine.

But Bob Freedman would have been the guy if chronology was not a real thing:

Clifford's playing with those charts....yeah.

There's not enough Bob Freedman in the world, at least not that I can find.

 

Why overlook the obvious? Tadd Dameron.

[Chuck Nessa]

1 minute ago, Larry Kart said:

Why overlook the obvious? Tadd Dameron.

If you could hear him then.

[Larry Kart]

Was Tadd in Lexington then? (No, he was there 1959-61) In any case, I wasn't thinking of literal possibilty but of men of that time who could have done an exceptional job. Later on Tadd did a with strings album with Blue Mitchell.

[Quasimado]

1 hour ago, Chuck Nessa said:

If you could hear him then.

[Teasing the Korean]

1 hour ago, Larry Kart said:

Why overlook the obvious? Tadd Dameron.

Les Baxter is the obvious choice.  But luckily for us, he had bigger plans than arranging for jazz artists.  

[Milestones]

Here are some records with strings that I like quite a bit:

• Forever Love--Mark Whitfield
• Rush Hour--Joe Lovano
• Focus--Stan Getz
• Fly With The Wind--McCoy Tyner

The first two albums don't use strings on every track.  The variety is interesting.

 

 

 

[Teasing the Korean]

11 minutes ago, Milestones said:

Here are some records with strings that I like quite a bit:

• Forever Love--Mark Whitfield
• Rush Hour--Joe Lovano
• Focus--Stan Getz
• Fly With The Wind--McCoy Tyner

The first two albums don't use strings on every track.  The variety is interesting.

I started a "with Strings" thread a few years back that can still be found.

I think there is a big difference between records placing a jazz guy in an orchestral setting and what I think of as the "with strings" albums.  The former category, including Focus, seem to aim for a hybrid between jazz and symphonic music. The "with Strings" albums lean more toward creating a relaxed late-night mood, consisting primarily of ballads  played by the soloist with "romantic" strings.  There must be albums that fall on a spectrum someplace between the two.  

[Milestones]

I see what you mean.  It's too bad Clifford didn't do a more "orchestral" album.  That could have been magnificent.

 

[Late]

Their chronologies don't line up, but I wonder what Clifford playing over Gary McFarland charts would've sounded like.

Oh — but Tadd Dameron ... very much yes to that.