George Coleman: George Coleman with Strings

Tenor saxophonist George Coleman decided to leave the orbit of trumpeter Miles Davis in 1964. Or he got an elbow to the ribs and a hip check to leave the quintet, to be replaced by Wayne Shorter in the saxophone slot. Three top-notch live albums came out of the group that featured Coleman: In Europe: Live at the Antibes Jazz Festival (1964); My Funny Valentine: In Concert (1965); and "Four and More:" In Concert (1966), all on Columbia Records. Add the studio outing, Seven Steps to Heaven (Columbia, 1963), and it is a wrap on the Coleman/Davis collaboration. Each of the hornmen went his own way, Davis to his second Great Quintet with Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and the powerhouse young drummer Tony Williams, and Coleman to a prolific leader/sideman career.

While the fame and fortune of Davis exploded with the Second Great Quintet, followed by In A Silent Way, (Columbia, 1969), Bitches Brew (Columbia Records,1970) and beyond (way beyond), Coleman went about his career on a steady ride in the mainstream, with a relatively low profile (compared to Davis) and an unwaveringly tasteful approach to jazz that has taken him on a long successful journey that found him, in his late eighties, in the studio to record an album with a core quartet and a ten piece string orchestra: George Coleman With Strings.

The jazz with strings has a long history, beginning with alto saxophonist Charlie Parker's Charlie Parker With Strings, released originally in 1950 by Mercury Records on two ten-inch discs (the 12-inch album had not happened yet). This started a trend. Trumpeters Clifford Brown and Chet Baker jumped on board with string albums. So did saxophonists Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster.

There are masterpieces, old and new, of the genre. George Coleman With Strings fits into that category. From the opening notes of Sammy Cahn's "Dedicated to You," Coleman displays his customary elegance, a rich, smoky tone and an easy swinging grace filled with surprises with every phrase he plays—an unmatched approach that sets the bar for fellow saxophonists up into the stratosphere. The seven tunes on this all standards set include two takes on Thelonious Monk's "Ugly Beauty" and two more of Johnny Mandel's "A Time for Love." Coleman and his quartet are soaked in Bill Dobbins' gorgeous, lush string arrangements, and on three tunes, they are joined by the vivacious percolation of Cafe Da Silva's magical percussion.

Sequenced perfectly, the 36 minutes of exquisite music—a long recording by Charlie Parker's two 10-inch record efforts, short by current CD offerings and just perfect by 12-inch long-playing records outings—drifts along with a mesmerizing, soothing quality. This is as beautiful as music gets. Miles Davis might have made a mistake in letting George Coleman get away. A front line of Davis' trumpet with Wayne Shorter and Coleman blowing saxophone alongside the leader might have done great things.