Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jimmy Farace: Hours Fly, Flowers Die

Jimmy Farace: Hours Fly, Flowers Die

By Jerome Wilson
August 2, 2025
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There have been many recordings of saxophones backed by string sections since

Charlie Parker

saxophone, alto
1920 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Parker experimented with the idea many years ago. The majority of those have featured tenor or alto sax players. However, on his debut album,

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Farace demonstrates how the baritone sax can excel beautifully in this format.

The full instrumental lineup on this set has Farace in front of a quintet, which also includes guitar and piano, meeting up with the KAIA String Quartet. The two elements blend well together, with the strings never overwhelming the sound of the quintet. KAIA lightly enhances the roaring power of Farace's baritone on "Growing Pains," and leaves plenty of space for pianist

Julius Tucker

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Julius Tucker and drummer

Dana Hall

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Dana Hall to roam in their solo passages. The quartet also provides sympathetic backgrounds for the warm samba, "Prophetic Dreams," and the gently folkish "Ferson Creek" where their pizzicato work stands out against Farace's placid melody playing. Farace also does all the arrangements on the album, and two of his best come on older tunes.

Kurt Weill

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Kurt Weill's "My Ship" begins with the strings taking on the melody before the baritone and piano swoop elegantly. Meanwhile

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington's "Single Petal of a Rose" also excels with its powerful merging of the strings and saxophone.

Not everything here is all lush romance. "Backyard Bobcat" is a cheerful soul tune that has Farace tooting happily and Dana Hall cracking along like a Seventies' funk drummer. "Signs of Spring" begins chaotically but settles into a cool Latin mood with Farace and guitarist

Kenny Reichert

guitar
b.1992

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Reichert quietly murmuring over KAIA's fertile background. The strings lay out completely on "Directionally Challenged," a brisk quintet jaunt where Farace swings as fast and hard as

Pepper Adams

saxophone, baritone
1930 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Pepper Adams. The most surprising track is "Hours Fly, Flowers Die," where the entire ensemble powers through an imposing jazz-prog melody with Farace in the lead before Reichert breaks in with a searing electric guitar solo and Hall explodes on the drums.

Jimmy Farace makes a strong statement on this debut album. His baritone playing is excellent and he also proves to be an imaginative arranger. There have been a lot of saxophone-and-strings albums over the years, but the variety and sheer beauty of the music on this one is special.

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Track Listing

Growing Pains; Ferson Creek; Prophetic Dreams; Directionally Challenged; My Ship; Signs of Spring; Hours Fly, Flowers Die; Single Petal of a Rose; Backyard Bobcat.

Personnel

Jimmy Farace

saxophone, baritone

Kenny Reichert

guitar

Julius Tucker

piano

Clark Sommers

bass

Dana Hall

drums

Victoria Moreira

violin

Naomi Culp

violin

Additional Instrumentation

Jimmy Farace: compositions, arrangements; Susan Bengtson Price: viola; Hope Shepherd Decelle: cello.

Album information

Title: Hours Fly, Flowers Die | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Shifting Paradigm Records

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