Eric Alexander with strings

"Alexander seeks to tweak expectations (...) with this outing, honoring the form but subtly subverting the content of the standard "sax with strings" program. Dave Rivello's orchestral arrangements inevitably buffer and billow the mix, but whenever they threaten to become anything more than a tonal matte, trenchant phrasing from Alexander or pianist David Hazeltine casts them to the background ... In 2019, Alexander released arguably the most adventuresome album of his career, "Leap of Faith", a chordless trio affair with a rhythm section of Johnathan Blake and Doug Weiss ... "With Strings" (...) seems well-aimed to be a counterbalance toward classicism. Fortunately, Alexander has enough scholarship and discernment to still push the envelope here, if not break the mold".

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"Thanks, no doubt, to the precedent-setting sweetness of Charlie Parker With Strings, there's an expectation that any pairing of a saxophonist and a string section will result in something ballad-heavy and lush. Obviously, there have been exceptions ... But "Eric Alexander With Strings" plays delightfully to type, with tempos slow and sultry, and plenty of minor-key melodies. Even so, the album never sounds like a throwback, in part because Dave Rivello's arrangements rely as much on the rhythm section as the strings, but mostly because Alexander understands that the sweet, sustained string harmonies are more effective if they stand in contrast to the muscular insistence of the saxophone. As such, his tenor tone remains big and punchy, while his solos retain the hard-bop aggression of his combo recordings. Even the dreamy "The Thrill Is Gone," immortalized on the 1954 album Chet Baker Sings, takes on a bit of edge when Alexander tosses the melody aside and works over the changes in his gruff, slow-burning solo".

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