🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶

This week’s theme is ‘strength of strings’: a look at five albums that use string trios, quartets, larger string ensembles, and individual string players within the jazz ensemble, to glorious effect. Tenor saxophonist and composer Quinsin Nachoff deploys a string quartet, violin soloist Nathalie Bonin, and a small jazz orchestra on his staggering, adventurous album Pivotal Arc—which packs in a violin concerto, four movement string quartet piece, and fifteen-minute title track. Saxophonist and composer Theresia Philipp works with a smaller ensemble on Pollon with Strings: her own trio plus three string players—but still manages to create fantastic harmonies and engaging experimental music with the smaller group. On Refocus, renowned saxophonist and bandleader Tim Garland reworks Stan Getz’s fantastic 1961 album Focus, which featured string arrangements written and conducted by Eddie Sauter. His chamber orchestra sounds simply sublime on the resultant recording. Kahil El’Zabar’s moving project America the Beautiful switches between string quartet and a duo of cellist Tomeka Reid and violin player Samuel Williams, allowing for a great deal of independence and ensuring the ensemble’s sound never stagnates. Chile’s Felipe Peña works with MC Enzo Miranda, leads his core quintet and involves a string quartet on his explorative album Transfiguración, which features string interludes as well as string parts interwoven into the full-band passages. Five beautiful albums, we hope you’ll agree! Support each one on Bandcamp!

Quinsin Nachoff – Pivotal Arc

Theresia Philipp – Pollon with Strings

Tim Garland – Refocus

Kahil El'Zabar – Kahil El’Zabar’s America the Beautiful

Felipe Peña – Transfiguración feat. Enzo Miranda