Anyone know about The Blue Strings?

djangologist

This video shows The Blue Strings playing in the early 60s on Argentinean TV. The song is "Love Letters", Rubén "Baby" López Fürst on guitar, Enrique "Quique" Gutiérrez De León contrabass, Carlos "Cacho" Macri on guitar (using a PALM Guitar) and Héctor López Fürst on violin.

A few notes:

PALM guitars where made by luthier Pedro Alfredo Lucas Malosetti. He made classical, acoustic and electric guitars from 1950 to 1993 in Argentine. He was brother of the great Walter Malosetti.

Years before this recording, Ruben "Baby" Lopez Furst owned an original Selmer guitar.

Walter Malosetti colaborated in studio recordings.

Carlos Macri lives in Argentine, today in 2024 he is 88 years old.

https://youtu.be/UWurg3k-4Y8?si=o7Bq1PQVjYDtfntK

Willie

Translation from German Wikipedia:

Ruben López Furst

Argentine jazz musician and composer

Ruben López Furst (born June 26, 1937 in Buenos Aires; † July 25, 2000 there) was a

Argentine jazz pianist.

Furst comes from a family of musicians; he is the brother of the violinist Héctor López Furst

(1934–2003) and the bassist Lito López Furst (1944–2005).

“Baby” López Furst started in the Buenos Aires jazz scene in 1951 at the age of fourteen

to appear. First he founded a swing band modeled on the Quintette du Hot Club

de France, in which he played guitar. In 1961 he led his trio, which existed for 19 years and in

where he appeared as a pianist. In 1966 his live album Jazz en la Universidad, a recording, was released

a concert (1964) in the Auditorium of the Universidad Nacional de Litoral in Santa Fe; 1967

The album Jazz Argentino followed with his trio of Jorge Gonzalez (bass) and Néstor Astarita

(drums). Together with his brothers he formed the Quarteto López Furst (Oliendo los

blues, 1972). He also worked as an accompanist for Jorge López Ruiz and as a guitarist with Los Blue

thongs. He played and recorded with international jazz greats such as Roy Eldridge, John Lewis and

Louis Armstrong.

López Furst also worked on the film music of feature films such as Sombras en el cielo, Espérame

mucho, Asesinato en el Senado de la Nación, El desquite and El Faro del Sur. To his

Recordings include Baby Solo (1992) and Dúo (1994), the latter with Jorge Navarro, with whom he

formed a piano duo for more than five years. In 1997 he worked with Ernesto Acher on the project

Gershwin, the man who loves.

López Furst received numerous awards, including the Premio Konex as jazz musician or best

Jazz soloist in 1985 and 1992 and posthumously in 2005. He was also drawn in 1982 by the

magazine Prensario as one of the three best jazz pianists in Argentina. As a composer

and producer of advertising music, he has repeatedly received awards for his work.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_L%C3%B3pez_Furst

Translation from " La Nacion", web version, August 28, 2003:

Héctor López Fürst passed away

He was the violinist of Argentine jazz

Victim of a long illness, violinist Héctor López Fürst died the night before last. Raised in a family where music was central, Héctor was the oldest of three brothers. The other two are Baby, the well-known pianist who died in 2000, and Lito, the double bassist.

Jazz musician, he debuted in Picking and Timers, where Baby was on the piano. The trio of brothers later formed the Brothers Strings, a group that boasted devastating melodiousness and good taste.

He was part of Swing 39, Hot Club Cuatro and the fusion band Chop Suey.

In recent years, he dedicated his energy to his group, Cuatro más Uno, an excellent quintet that had a special sound since it brought together his violin with Sergio Mónaco's vibraphone and a rhythm section of bass, piano and drums. With them he released his latest album, "Gaijin" (foreigner in Japanese).

Héctor López Fürst was a violinist with varied influences, ranging from gypsy swing to bebop. With them he managed to build a fresh language that, over the years, transformed into a dense and mature personal sound.

A born improviser, he liked jam sessions in which he showed a taste for fast passages and precise quotes from the most varied genres.

In his last group, the violinist had an interesting role as a composer in which he showed himself to be creative in classical jazz readings.

https://www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/musica/fallecio-hector-lopez-furst-nid522589/

djangologist

Buco

Yeah, on the potentially controversial topic of rhythm section in question...it really sounds fine to me. Much better than what I heard today in a YT ad for the premium subscription where they had a gypsy jazz jingle track.