NEW RELEASES / JAZZ : A Tasteful Melding of Sax and Strings : SCOTT HAMILTON / “Scott Hamilton With Strings” Concord Jazz

**** To the long list of horn players who have employed string backgrounds (all the way back to Artie Shaw in the 1930s and Charlie Parker in the ‘40s), the name of Scott Hamilton is a valuable addition. This album is a dual triumph, since Hamilton shares honors with Alan Broadbent, whose role as arranger, conductor and pianist is central to the focus of the project.

Hamilton’s tone on tenor sax--warm, supple, sensitive--is ideally suited to the 20-string setting. Broadbent at all times avoids the temptation of lapsing into schmaltz. There is no overdubbing, no tracking; Hamilton and Broadbent were right there with the ensemble in a Hollywood studio, completing the album in two days.

Of the 10 songs, seven are well-known pop standards. Outstanding among these is “Young and Foolish,” with the string section blissfully playing the verse before the saxophone eases in at the chorus. Three less well-known but no less successful tracks are “Goodbye Mr. Evans,” Phil Woods’ requiem of the late Bill Evans; Mercer Ellington’s “Tonight I Shall Sleep With a Smile on My Face” and Broadbent’s own “Heart’s Desire.”

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New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent). A rating of five stars is reserved for classic reissues or retrospectives.