Jaki Byard - With Strings!

Jaki Byard - With Strings! - Prestige 7573 - Fantasy Pressing, Green Label, Stereo

Jaki Byard - Piano, Organ
Ray Nance - Violin, Vocal
George Benson - Guitar
Ron Carter - Cello
Richard Davis - Bass
Alan Dawson - Drums, Vibes

Recorded - [not listed on sleeve, but according to major Prestige discographies - April 2, 1968, NYC]

Produced by Don Schlitten
Recorded by Richard Alderson
Cover Design/Photo - Don Schlitten

Released - October 12, 1968

This is one of my personal favorites from the late Prestige era - the wonderfully idiosyncratic and brilliant Jaki Byard with Strings! Decidedly NOT a conventional 'strings' side, but a rather energetic small group effort by Byard with some ace sidemen: Benson, Davis, Carter. I've become quite attached to Byard's playing lately; a wonderful technician whose sudden stylistic shifts from New Orleans ragtime to bop to avant jazz all over this side can sometimes be jarring, but it's uniquely Jaki. Good fidelity from an early reissue Fantasy pressing.

Get it