Jazz and Strings (Cannonball Adderley and Count Basie)

This edition of Microgroove Music highlights an unlikely pairing from the 1960s: the driving hard bop of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and the soaring strings of Ray Ellis and his Orchestra; it must be the most aggressive mood music record ever made. Also featured are selections from a more sedate affair, String Along with Basie, featuring Count Basie's sparse but perfectly chosen notes on the piano, with the tenor saxophones of Illinois Jacquet and Ben Webster adding to the romantic mood. The blues are not ignored, however: Blues Bittersweet, a wonderful chart by Quincy Jones, opens this program.

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