Dave Stryker and his Trio Brings Some "Blue Fire" to Van Gelder's Studio

Dave Stryker- Blue Fire: The Van Gelder Session- Strikezone Recds

The guitar stalwart Dave Stryker finally got to have his dream come true and the results are his latest release Blue Fire The Van Gelder Session was well worth the wait! Stryker has been on my radar for years. His work with his long-term cohorts Jared Gold on the B3 organ and McClenty Hunter on drums have provided some of the best Organ/Guitar/Drums music for the last twenty years. I originally discovered Stryker’s compelling guitar work as a co-leader of the progressive Stryker/Slagle Band, when I got into their modern, sinewy sounding work on album’s like The Scene from 2008 and Keeper from 2010.

Dave Stryker’s career started when this Omaha, Nebraska based guitarist left for Los Angeles at the age of seventeen in 1978 to expand his musical experience and cut his teeth on the circuit. He met organ master Jack McDuff and eventually moved to New York, playing with McDuff from 1984 through 1985, before touring with saxophone great Stanley Turrentine from 1986 up to his passing in 2000. With this experience steeped in the blues, soul jazz, jazz funk, hard bop, and R&B there is no mystery why Stryker’s music is so influenced by these sources.

Much of the best of jazz of the “prime time” era was recorded by labels like Blue Note, Impulse, Prestige, CTI, and Savoy in the studio of sound engineer magician Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. While the master Van Gelder passed away in 2016 his iconic, wood-lined, cathedral-like studio has been preserved and has been listed in the National Register of Historical Places in 2022.

                                             Van Gelder Studio in 2022 (photo via Wikipedia)

The currently active studio was willed by Van Gelder to his longtime assistant Maureen Sickler, who had been working at the studio for three decades before she became owner upon Rudy’s passing. The Sickler's  are now actively running, restoring and preserving this gem of jazz history. We wish them continued success. It’s so great to have them pay it forward.

Recording at the Van Gelder studio is like playing the Village Vanguard, reaching a goal that for some is seemingly never attainable. No wonder guitarist Stryker wanted to check this achievement off his bucket list so Blue Fire: The Van Gelder Session comes to life.

The album opens with a Stryker cooker, the deeply grooved “Van Gelder’s Place” that just shuffles onto the stage with cool and soul. Dave’s guitar is so smooth, so in touch with his soul, as he attacks his notes with aplomb, both singularly and in octaves vis a vis Wes. Gold gets his turn adding to the jazz history here, as he attacks the same Hammond B3 that was once played by esteemed practitioners like Larry Young, Jack MacDuff and Jimmy Smith. Jared he sets it on fire on this album; what more could a B3 man ask for?  The drummer, McClenty Hunter, bubbles with energy creating the stream upon which these guys float, just beautiful.

The music just doesn’t stop there. “Blue Fire” is another Stryker composition that has a feel like something Larry Young might have brought into the studio. The trio create a brewing chicane of sounds that swell and pulse with electricity. Stryker and Gold synch-in so precisely that it has you holding your breath as they anticipate each other’s moves. Hunter’s drum work is a syncopated whirlwind of pure propulsion. It becomes apparent that these musicians are savoring every minute of this session. I find myself repeating this impressive song multiple times just to make sure I catch all the intricacies. Whew!

Stryker uses the Beatles’ “A Fool on the Hill”  to create a soft, breezy swing. You can listen to this and imagine your feet up as you sip a drink with an umbrella in it. A fun and carefree groove.

If bebop is your thing, how about this group’s take on Charlie Parker’s “Dexterity”? Stryker ‘s guitar lines spell out the melody with dexterous fluidity. He is pushed by Gold’s throbbing organ work, probing foot driven bass lines and Hunter’s incendiary drum work. Gold’s creativity is on display, as his solo never ceases to surprise and Hunter offers his own buoyant solo of note.

Stryker’s beautiful ballad, “Waiting for Ruby,” is one of my favorites on this album. Dave opens with a sensitive guitar entre that pulls at your sensibilities. His playing is so personal it’s like he is playing this one just for you. Stryker has an inherent melodicism that is never far from his playing. Although George Benson’s influence is often heard in Dave’s playing, his absorption of some of Jim Hall’s sensitivity certainly serves him well. Gold and Hunter brilliantly accompany with a gossamer-like delicacy. This one is a keeper; just beautiful.

“Back and Forth” is a Jared Gold composition that has a cadenced opening featuring a repeating line that unexpectedly changes time throughout. This one challenges your sense of getting settled into a groove. Instead, it bobs and weaves, keeping you unbalanced and paying attention. The trio is in synch as they navigate the obstacle course that Gold has written with ease and skill.

Stryker includes a Jerome Kern classic “The Folks Who Live on the Hill”  at a slow, lingering pace. In the seven plus minutes, the trio explores the harmonic possibilities of this melody making their own imprint. Stryker explores his octave chording possibilities as Gold’s B 3 swells and moans and Hunter breezily shuffles.

Stryker’s cinematic “Every Dark Street” is like being in a film noir thriller. Gold’s organ emanates with a sense of suspense and danger. Stryker’s blues-tinged guitar lines introduces a tension and eeriness of the unknown.  The hair on your neck rises in anticipation. They paint a picture with their instruments that elevate your senses and transport you to this eerie dark street.

This satisfying album closes with a song by Harry Warren and Al Dublin titled “Summer Night.” The song was first heard in 1936 in the film Sing Me A Love Song.  But this composition has been substantially altered when it was made part of the jazz canon by Miles Davis and Gil Evans. This duo revised and recorded this song on the album Quiet Nights in 1963 and it never was quite the same. The song was again modified by Chick Corea and played by the saxophone ace Stan Getz on his album The Master released in 1982. (Many thanks to Ethan Iverson for bringing the evolution of this song to my attention which you can read here.) 

Stryker and company seems to have been influenced more by the swinging Corea arrangement than to the more sedate Davis/Evans version. Stryker added some probing octave chording, as  Gold embellished the music with his own more progressive explorations. Hunter never fails to keep the drive lively and propulsive no matter the time signature. The history of this song is a testament to how diverse musical improvisation can transform any composition's interpretation.

 

A Never Ending Search for the Groove: Drummer McClenty Hunter's "The Groove Hunter"

McClenty Hunter The Groove Hunter Strikezone Records 8816

The drummer McClenty Hunter Jr. is one of those timekeepers that has made a name for himself precisely because he can adapt his playing to suit almost any music. The cat swings on everything he does, whether it be in guitarist/producer Dave Stryker’s trio and larger ensembles, in saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s Grammy nominated quintet or as a valued sideman on other people’s projects.

He’s been on the New York scene for about ten years after having studied with Grady Tate at Morehouse College where he graduated in 2005, and later studying with Carl Allen at Julliard for his masters, which he received in 2007. He has worked with jazz icons like Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton and Curtis Fuller to name a few and has been recorded extensively.

His debut album as a leader, The Groove Hunter, says it all- he is a man always hunting for that perfect groove. Hunter’s seemingly effortless ability to adapt his style to compliment whatever music is at hand is impressive- his effort is always within the group context. With plenty of facility, he is somewhat selfless musician, an advocate of the total sound rather than promoting his own individual role.

The music begins with the fractious staccato movement in Herbie Nichols “Blue Chopsticks” where Hunter, pianist Eric Reed and bassist Cochran Holt lay down a powerful pace that Hunter accentuates with splashes, pops and crackle. Holt offers a fleet and mellifluous bass solo. This trio shows tremendous intuition and Hunter would be wise to maintain his connection to these like-minded musicians for future projects.

The music ups the ante adding three horns - Donald Harrison’s alto, Stacy Dillard’s tenor and Eddie Henderson’s trumpet-to the rhythm section of Holt, Hunter and Reed. The group pulses in hardbop splendor behind Hunter and Holt’s marvelous in-the-pocket groove. There is some scintillating horn work by these gentlemen on this one that on its own is worth the price of admission.

McClenty Hunter (photo credit unknown)

Hunter proves himself to be a sensitive composer, shown here by his work with Dillard, Reed and Holt  on his composition “Autumn.” Reed’s fluid piano work is a delight. Holt’s bass sings with great sonority. This man has the sound of a mature master. Stacy Dillard is increasingly becoming an important voice on the saxophone. Here he plays with a breezy lightness that nonetheless preserves a sense of poignancy and power. All the while Hunter is quietly in command, the cement that binds them all together.

Hunter enlists bandmate and producer/guitarist Dave Stryker along with piano phenom Christian Sands and bassist Eric Wheeler for a rousing rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “That Girl.”  The trapmaster anchors the tune with a soulful shuffle that has you tapping your feet from the very beginning. Stryker’s guitar is in classic swing mode ala Wes Montgomery, and Sands piano solo is splendidly creative. If this one doesn’t get you moving, call a doctor and check your pulse.

Another Hunter original is the soulful “My Love,” once again played with Reed on piano and Holt on bass. Hunter’s shimmering cymbal work giving the barest accompaniment on the intro until the song erupts into a Coltrane-inspired modal chant. Dillard providing the exploratory tenor solo and Hunter’s exploding drums showing Elvin-like polyphony. Reed’s Tyner-like piano solo is another marvel of absorption and Holt powers full-throated through it all.

“Sack Full of Dreams” is Hunter’s homage to teacher and mentor Grady Tate. Guitarist Stryker sets his tone to mellow and bassist Wheeler struts strongly. Pianist Christian Sands returns for a thoughtful solo before Stryker lays down some sweet lines and octaves that just melt into the fabric of the song.

Hunter follows with another original “I Remember When,” this time with just Sands and Wheeler. Sands has studied his history and sometimes sounds Garner-esque in his embellishments. Hunter’s brush work carries the rhythm with a gossamer touch before he responds to Sands breakout solo- a fountainhead of pianistic elegance-with his own rhythmic retorts.

John Coltrane’s “Countdown” features some rabid playing by Hunter, Reed and Holt-altoist Donald Harrison offering an incendiary solo that honors the master without copying him. This one cooks and Hunter’s rhythmic drive is impressively unrelenting.

The finale is Hunter’s dreamy “Give Thanks.”  Here he plays toms and cymbals with mallets in a cadence that is particularly alluring. Reed's piano gently comps as Stacy Dillard’s voluptuous soprano work lulls you luxuriously to another place. Cochran Holt’s bass solo is big, round and probing and Reed’s solo is the epitome of musicality.

McClenty Hunter's The Groove Hunter has established this young drummer as a force to be reckoned with. A triple threat as a musician, a composer and a leader. Producer Dave Stryker has once again shown himself to a shrewd judge of talent and his Strikezone record label is quickly becoming a label to watch.