{"id":11264,"date":"2025-09-08T18:47:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T23:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=11264"},"modified":"2025-09-08T18:47:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T23:47:37","slug":"review-george-coleman-strings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/review-george-coleman-strings\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: ‘George Coleman with Strings’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are no written rules for NEA Jazz Masters. Clearly, they have earned the right to undertake their long-dreamed-of projects. Or to buck the music establishment with something unexpected. Or to fulfill a \u201cbucket list\u201d item. George Coleman with Strings <\/em>(High Note, 2025), unequivocally the most gorgeous album of the  tenor saxophonist\u2019s storied career<\/a>, meets at least two of those standards. Playing with symphonic strings has long been considered a rite of passage for many great jazz soloists ever since Charlie Parker<\/em> With Strings <\/em>(Mercury, 1950) set the bar over seven decades ago. Since Bird, a lengthy list of other artists have explored this ground, including Coleman Hawkins, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Art Pepper, Wes Montgomery, and Ben Webster. Or, more recently, Jim Snidero and Dave Stryker. At eighty-nine years young, Coleman is the oldest to have done so, but his full-toned, expressive rendering of standards is as strong as any of the others. Unlike with an athlete, age hasn\u2019t taken its toll on Coleman\u2019s playing. If anything, as evidenced by his performances with Emmet Cohen, One for All, Brandi Disterheft, and his own recordings, <\/em>Coleman is still growing and inventively improvising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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