Biography
Harry Lookofsky, a violinist who fused the exacting demands of classical execution with bebop's rhythmic and melodic inflections, fashioned Stringsville, among the most distinctive jazz albums of its time. Contemporary listeners also recognize him as the father of Michael Brown, the guiding spirit behind the groundbreaking orchestral pop ensemble the Left Banke. Born October 1, 1913, in Paducah, KY, Lookofsky launched his violin training at age eight and pursued formal instruction in St. Louis. While still in his early teens he joined a small jazz orchestra that played the vaudeville circuit, shaping his developing style after the example of Joe Venuti. He entered the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1933 and remained there five years before moving to New York City to join Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra. Although classical engagements continued to provide his primary income, he regularly revisited jazz, becoming one of the bebop era's earliest and most skilled violinists; at times he employed the tenor violin, which he valued for its sonic kinship with the tenor saxophone. After Toscanini retired in 1954, Lookofsky shifted to ABC and served several years as concertmaster, all the while appearing regularly on New York jazz dates with Coleman Hawkins, Sarah Vaughan, Ben Webster, and Donald Byrd. With bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Charlie Swift, he led the Epic date Miracle with Strings, the first session to display his signature overdubbing technique that let him perform on multiple instruments simultaneously. Those innovations reached their height on the 1958 Atlantic album Stringsville. Working with arrangers Bob Brookmeyer and Hank Jones plus bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Elvin Jones, the recording documents some of the most lyrical and inventive violin work ever committed to tape. Because the overdubbed violin and viola lines were fully composed rather than spontaneously improvised, Stringsville stood apart from bebop's prevailing aesthetic and consequently received little acknowledgment in standard jazz accounts despite its considerable merits. Lookofsky stayed in steady demand as a studio musician through the 1960s, supporting Tony Bennett, Wes Montgomery, and Gil Evans among others. In 1966 he also produced the sessions that yielded the Left Banke's pop classic "Walk Away Renee" and secured the group's contract with Smash Records. In his final working years he focused chiefly on television jingles yet continued contributing to sessions into the mid-1980s. He died of prostate cancer on June 8, 1998, at the age of 85.