Product Review

The Soulful Strings were without a doubt the hippest project ever to emerge from the 60s with the word Strings in its name. Brainchild of producer/arranger/bassist/songwriter (and genius) Richard Evans, the group was a far cry from the interchangeable outfits that flourished during the beautiful music era; instead, The Soulful Strings were actually composed of members of the Chess/Cadet label house band, including flautist Lennie Druss, guitarist Phil Upchurch, bassist/cellist Cleveland Eaton and harpist Dorothy Ashby, who laid down a tasty electric groove into which Evans stirred lush strings and unusual instrumentation like the kalimba and sitar. The result was a sound that resided at the crossroads of easy listening, jazz, R&B and exotica and, as one might expect from that description, every Soulful Strings release (they made seven albums) is treasured by cratediggers worldwide. This 1968 release was their highest-charting record at #35 on the charts, and appears on CD for the first time anywhere in the world, with liner notes by Gene Sculatti. The soundtrack to many a swingin 60s Christmas party.