The Percy Faith Strings

Orchestral Pop Ensemble

The Percy Faith Strings was a large string orchestra established in Jan-Feb 1959, soon after final sessions for Porgy And Bess album. It includes 48 strings players, led by Percy's concertmaster George Ockner: 32 violins, eight cellos, six violas, two basses, plus a harp, piano, guitar, and vibraphone. To highlight the trademark flawless movement of strings in Percy Faith's arrangements, musicians sit in four divisions: two banks of violins (further subdivided into a pair of groups), low strings, and a "rhythm" section. As Irving Townsend pointed in his liner notes on The Percy Faith Strings - Bouquet, their debut album, "in this orchestra are seven Stradivarius, eight Guarnerius, four Ruggieri, and a dozen Gagliano instruments, as well as a sprinkling of such other famous makers' names as Montagnana, Guadanini, Gaspar di Salo, Bergonzi, and Goffriller. Percy conducted with a 29¢ Scripto pencil." "I have always thought of this orchestra as an individual, as a soloist rather than as an ensemble."—Percy Faith