[Dixielandjazz] Lee Konitz & Louis Armstrong

[Steve Barbone]

on 6/27/07 5:52 PM, Bill Haesler at bhaesler at bigpond.net.au wrote:

>> .............There's something about jazz and strings . . . (Shaw,
> Parker, Davern, Konitz et al)<
> 
> Dear Steve,
> Yep, 'something' to be filed away and forgotten about. IMO.
> 8>)
> And don't forget some others - Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison or even
> Aussies Bob Barnard and John McCarthy.
> Then again, perhaps we should forget.

Dear Bill:

Nate Chinen a NY Times Jazz Reviewer/critic agrees with you, at least in
Bird's case. See below for a snip from  today's review of a Bird Clone from
Italy, performing at Birdland in NYC. These 2 paragraphs were inserted in
what was an otherwise favorable review:

--snipped from review

" Francesco Cafiso, who recently turned 18. Backed by a working quartet and
a chamber orchestra, I Solisti di Perugia, he¹s revisiting the string
arrangements from Parker¹s popular recordings of the late 1940s. And he¹s
managing to make them feel roomy." . . .

"Of course most tunes were less eventful. Whatever the scope of Parker¹s
classical ambitions ‹ he was fond of Stravinsky and fascinated by
orchestration ‹ his sessions with strings produced a middlebrow music, full
of garish sentiment. The arrangements, while charming in measured doses,
don¹t fare as well in succession. After about a dozen of them you feel as
though you¹ve consumed a three-course meal of consisting entirely of sponge
cake."

--end snip.

On the other hand, Bird himself, was very proud of those string sessions. In
my case, I enjoy what Davern did with strings on the album "My Inspiration"
and think he liked it also. I believe Bob Haggart did the arranging for the
orchestra. I have a signed copy of the CD which he gave me about 7 years
ago. Inscribed by Haggart and Davern, to Martha and me on our 38th wedding
anniversary. (Haggart, as well as being an acquaintance of mine, was an
Alcohol Anonymous buddy of my Father in Law and came to our wedding).

Cheers
Steve Barbone