Recording with a string orchestra behind is one of the temptations that jazz soloists frequently succumb to. It doesn't always work out. But strings can make the most obscure bop tenor palatable to a larger audience by packaging him in a thick coating of sugar. I am doubting that this pays limited returns. It's been tried a lot: Art Pepper's Winter Moon, and Stan Getz's Focus are good examples. These are both of them fine recordings, and Winter Moon is an especially good one to play in the car on a long trip with someone who isn't a jazz fan.
David Murray shows you how it's done on Waltz Again. Murray cuts the saccharin with his hard, angular avant garde sax. It's everything the jazz fan wants.
Here's a cut:
David Murray/Dark Secrets/Waltz Again
No comments:
Post a Comment