Second album from brilliant Chicago string-jazz-funk-soul outfit

At first glance the Soulful Strings could be lumped into the many mainstream opportunists who adapted popular hits songs of the 1960s and early 1970s to orchestral and string arrangements. But unlike aggregations such as the Living Strings, Melachrino Strings or the Leon Russell led Midnight String Quartet, the Chicago-based Soulful Strings weren’t an attempt to lure young listeners to easy listening or older listeners to pop. Instead, Cadet producer Esmond Edmunds and arranger-conductor Richard Evans were interested in exploring the intersection of a soulful Chicago jazz band and a full string section. At the time of the Soul Strings’ creation, Evans was already an experienced bassist and arranger, having worked with Ramsey Lewis, Kenny Burrell and others. Even more importantly, the Soulful Strings albums were populated by the cream of Chicago’s jazz and soul scene, including Charles Stepney, Lenard Druss, Bunky Green, Phil Upchurch, and many others. This second Soul Strings LP (their debut was titled Paint it Black), was released in 1967, and includes their best-known (and most thoroughly anthologized) tune, Richard Evans’ “Burning Spear.” Also heard here are reworked jazz tunes (Miles Davis’ “All Blues”), psychedelic pop (George Harrison’s “Within You Without You”) and top-40 pop (The Rascals’ “Groovin’”). Evans’ arrangements are masterful, weaving the string section and jazz players together without artifice or novelty, lending the weight of the former to the solid funk of the latter. Sadly, as of the writing of this review, all seven Soulful Strings albums are out of print, and Universal (which currently owns the Cadet catalog) doesn’t seem in any hurry to get them reissued. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]