Violinist and music arranger born in Brooklyn, New York, whose parents taught him the violin when he was five years old. His sister Elaine was a pianist. Sheldon entered the Juilliard School in New York City where he trained as a classical musician and earned his masters degree and was a winner of the radio show Major Bowes Amateur Hour. He entered Cornell University as a professor and toured with the Cornell University Trio.
In 1964 he relocated to Nashville as a faculty member of Peabody College and started to work as a session musician when Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley were developing the “Nashville sound”. He performed for The Nashville Symphony and one-time concertmaster of The Nashville Strings, he eventually put together his own merry band of session musicians and formed The Sheldon Kurland Strings.
He performed on tens of thousands of recording sessions and has appeared on over 170 albums in various capacities, most notably with his group, but also as a soloist. He has appeared on albums as diverse as Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait, Jimmy Buffett’s Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, and PM Dawn’s Jesus Wept. His book An Adult Guide to the Orchestra was published posthumously.
He fully retired in 2004 although initially retired in the 1980s. He passed away in Nashville in 2010 when he was 81 years old.
Kathy Barnes recordings
Something’s Burning (Mac Davis)
John Wesley Ryles recordings
Liberated Woman (Wayne Carson)
Here he is performing on Ray Steven’s version of “The Fool on the Hill”…
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Kurland
2. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sheldon-kurland-mn0000507269
3. https://www.discogs.com/artist/520025-Sheldon-Kurland
4. https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/the_shelly_kurland_strings/credits/
5. http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php?search=1&type=name&lname=Kurland&fname=Sheldon
6. http://www.jazzdisco.org/atlantic/1973-dis/c/
7. https://musicrow.com/2010/01/noted-arranger-sheldon-kurland-passes/