Sushel, Robert

Violinist with the American Art Quartet that included Victor Gottlieb, Virginia Majewski, and the late Eudice Shapiro. They released a couple of recordings, back in the day, one for RCA that included Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 and Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Lark” Quartet in D. A less conventional effort was their Columbia release, which featured string quartets by William Bergsma and Lukas Foss. A CD release in 2006 matches up the Foss quartet with Igor Stravinsky’s “Divertimento” and “Duo Concertant”.

Robert would not get rich performing classical music, but he went on to a successful career as a session musician. He can be heard on albums released in six consecutive decades. In the 1950s, he teamed up with Louis Armstrong a couple of times, once on the double-helping I’ve Got the World on a String/Louis under the Stars, and once on Louis’s and Ella Fitzgerald’s 1957 recording of Porgy & Bess. He also appeared on several Pat Boone recordings, so naturally made the cut on 1997’s retrospective, The Fifties Complete. Have a request for Robert? He is also featured on The 1950s Volume II, part of Sony’s 16 Most Requested Songs series, as well as Benny Goodman’s Chronological Classics 1951-1952.

In the 1960s, Robert teamed up with Dean Martin for a series of recordings and you can hear some of them on the anthology, Everybody Loves Somebody: The Reprise Years 1962-1966. He switched gears in 1967, offering string support on the Stone Poneys’ sophomore effort, Evergreen—Volume 2. A year later, he joined forces with Mason Williams on The Mason Williams Phonographic Record.

Robert didn’t miss a beat in the ‘70s, appearing on such eclectic fare as Robert Lamm’s Skinny Boy, Luis Gasca’s Collage, Bautista’s The Heat of the Wind, Hubert Laws’ Land of Passion, and Walter Murphy’s Discosymphony.

The 1980s saw him pairing off with Stanley Clarke and George Duke on The Clarke/Duke Project II, Bill Watrous on Reflections, Nancy Wilson on Forbidden Lover, and Teena Marie on Naked to the World.

In 1992, he celebrated Yuletide with The Manhattan Transfer on The Christmas Album. He also appeared on the anthologies The Greatest of Pleasure, Linda Ronstadt Box Set, and My Rifle, My Pony and Me, a collection of western movie and TV themes.

Other artists and groups with whom Robert has recorded include Michael Bolton, Roberto Carlos, Larry Carlton, The Carpenters, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick, Jr., Bob Cooper, Suzanne Dean, Earth, Wind & Fire, Sheena Easton, The Emotions, Michael Feinstein, Joao Gilberto, Larry Graham & Graham Central Station, Julio Iglesias, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Letta Mbulu, Sergio Mendes, Bette Midler, Harry Nilsson, Ray Parker, Jr., Prince, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Diane Schuur, Bud Shank, Frank Sinatra, Sister Sledge, Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Gabor Szabo, and Vanessa Williams.

His filmography comprises Around the World in Eighty Days (the original), Do the Right Thing, The Enforcer, and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

If you like your violin with a little poetry thrown in, check out Rod McKuen’s If You Go Away: The RCA Years 1965-1970 and David Axelrod’s Songs of Experience, based on the works of 18^th-century wordsmith William Blake.

He performs here…

Sources:

Sushel, Robert

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