The Broadway show No Strings opened on March 15, 1962 and featured several wows. For one, it was the only musical for which Richard Rodgers wrote the words and music. His writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein II, had died less than two years earlier. The show ran until August 3, 1963—580 performances in all.
For another, the musical centered on the romantic relationship of an interracial couple. The book by Samuel A. Taylor never mentioned the race of either lead character. Rodgers got the idea for casting a black actress in the starring role after watching Broadway actress Diahann Carroll (Julia) on The Tonight Show. She co-starred in No Strings with Richard Kiley. [Publicity still above of Diahann Carroll in No Strings]
Rodgers felt that the casting spoke for itself and any specific references to race in the play were unnecessary. Rodgers said: "Rather than shrinking from the issue of race, such an approach would demonstrate our respect for the audience's ability to accept our theme free from rhetoric or sermons." However, the characters' reluctance to discuss race was somewhat controversial.
And the final wow—Carroll won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, a first for a black actor in the category. (Juanita Hall was the first black actor to win a Tony in the original 1949 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.) No Strings also won a Tony for Best Original Score, and the official soundtrack won a Grammy. Later in the run of No Strings, Barbara McNair and Howard Keel replaced Carroll and Kiley.
Two months after the musical's opening, a jazz sextet arranged and conducted by Peter Matz took on the show's score. The album, on Columbia, was called No Strings by the No Strings Sextet. The sextet (plus two rhythm section players) featured Jimmy Sedlar (tp), Jimmy Dahl (tb), Ernie Mauro (oboe,Eng-hrn,cl,b-cl,sax), Wally Kane (bassoon,fl,b-cl,bar), Wally Wegner (fl,pic,cl,b-cl,sax), Aaron Sachs (cl,as), Joe Benjamin (b) and Ronnie Bedford (d).
One may wonder how Matz was able to turn around the sextet score so quickly. It turns out Matz was the No Strings conductor of the Broadway musical orchestra and on the soundtrack. The musicians in the No Strings Sextet were superb New York studio players and frequent musicians in Broadway pit orchestras. [Photo above by Peter Matz courtesy of Fresh Sound]
This album is terrific. The arrangements are tight and light, and the playing first-rate. The Fresh Sound release has been paired with Mannie Klein's Sextet Plays the Sound of Music, recorded in 1959. The lineup on the latter album features Mannie Klein (tp), Ronny Lang (cl,ts), Bobby Hammack (p), Al Hendrickson (g), Morty Corb (b) and prob Nick Fatool (d). It, too, is a fabulous recording, especially Klein's horn.
Both albums have long been out of print and are now finally available.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find the two-fer album from Fresh Sound here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Eager Beaver...
Here's No Strings...
And here's the musical's hit song, The Sweetest Sounds...
Bonus: Here's Diahann Carroll on the Ed Sullivan Show in November 1962 singing No Strings...
