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.

 

West Coast Guitarist Jim Witzel and his Quartet Mine the Music of Bill Evans on Very Early

 Guitarist Jim Witzel and his Quartet's Very Early : Remembering Bill Evans

Jim Wetzil Quartet: Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans: Joplin &Sweeney Records

The West Coast guitarist Jim Witzel is a new player to me. I was introduced to Witzel’s Quartet work on his latest release Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans out on the Joplin Sweeney label released August of 2025. I don’t always get a chance to listen to all of the music I receive in a timely manner, so my getting hip to this album now is no excuse. Better late than never.

Jim Witzel’s Very Early is a fresh look at some of the music that pianist Bill Evans’ incorporated into his repertoire. These songs were either written by Evans, or were penned by others, but they became invaluable vehicles of creative inspiration for the pianist over his career.  Credit Witzel and his pianist/co-arranger Phil Aaron for selectively choosing nine important compositions that beautifully represent the essence of Evans musical psyche.

I often find it helpful to learn a little of the history of an artist like Jim Witzel, to better understand what factors he encountered on his trip that helped him find his own musical voice. Witzel was brought up in the North Bay area town of San Rafael and picked up guitar at the age of twelve. He recalls three albums that made an indelible impression of him as a young aspiring guitarist- Wes Montgomery’s Boss Guitar, Jim Hall & Rob Carter’s Alone Together, and Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life. He clearly had a good ear and excellent taste even back then.

Jim Witzel (photo credit unknown)

Jim took Creative Arts studies with a Music emphasis at San Franciso State University, where he had a chance to study with alto saxophonist John Handy.  He led his own jazz quartet, hosted and performed on a weekly television show “Jazz After Midnight,” and received a travel grant from the National Endowment of the Arts which allowed him to study with guitar great Jack Wilkins in New York and Howard Roberts in Los Angeles. Witzel eventually relocated to Los Angeles where he free-lanced in jazz groups, offered private guitar lessons to aspiring guitarists, and took a few private lessons with guitarists John Abercrombie and Joe Iorio. In 1992, Jim released an album titled Give and Take with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Ralph Penland, also featuring guests like John Abercrombie, saxophonist Ernie Watts, keyboardist Russel Ferrante and bassist Marc Johnson. All these experiences added to Witzel’s rapid maturation as a respected and talented jazz guitarist.

Witzel eventually returned to the Bay area, and besides being an active performer, he is currently a faculty member at Santa Clara University where he is a Professor of Jazz Studies.

Jim and pianist Phil Aaron have been collaborating since the late nineties. On this latest album, Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans, Witzel and Aaron are joined by Dan Feiszli on bass and Jason Lewis on drums.

The music opens with Victor Young’s classic “Beautiful Love.” The song preserves Evans’ probing approach to the composition’s melodicity that the pianist always strove to maintain for the listener, while still exploring   harmonic grounds that could surprise and delight. Witzel and company accomplish these goals while retaining their own contemporary voice throughout.  Witzel’s playing on his Gibson ES165 single pick-up guitar recalls the warm tone of Jim Hall. Aaron’s piano accompaniment is tactile, energized and on point.  Feiszli and Lewis swing with confident aplomb. In one break, the two trade lines,  bass and brushed snare work interchange, that impressively communicate a sense of intuition.

The set includes the less familiar “How My Heart Sings”, an Earl Zindars composition, which was first heard on Evans’ album of the same name from 1964.  The quartet also does their own take on Steve Swallow’s “Falling Grace,” which was first heard on vibraphonist Gary Burton’s album from 1966 The Time Machine. True to Evans approach to this song, first recorded by Bill on Intuition from 1975, Witzel's group abandon the ethereal approach that Burton and Swallow first envisioned and follow the pianist’s vision. They open with Witzel’s probing guitar lines, a Metheny-inspired exploration on the theme, as the band carry the circuitous route. Witzel explores the terrain with horizontal lines that seem to emerge from the ether.  Feiszli’s throbbing bass lines are strong and sustained. Aaron’s piano solo is inventive and joyful, while Lewis’ drum work is propulsive. Worth the price of admission.

Miles Davis is the listed composer of “Solar” first recorded on his album Miles Davis Quintet from 1954, but allegedly this was composed by the guitarist Chuck Wayne. Evans’ released, to many consider the seminal version of this song, on his album Bill Evans Trio Sunday at the Village Vanguard, from NYC in 1961. The song became a frequent part of the pianist’s repertoire. On Witzel’s version, Lewis’s drum set opens with a declaratory roll, before Feiszli’s walking bass lines add to the excitement and pace. Aaron’s piano is the first to explore his own harmonic ideas that swirl over the rhythm section. Witzel’s guitar lines enter with a fluidity that charms and impresses. The ideas that come out of Jim’s guitar percolate from an internal well of inventiveness that never runs dry. Toward the coda, the group executes some stop/starts that surprise and add to the kineticism and excitement of this great take.

The title cut Bill Evans’ “Very Early” is a beautiful ballad that oscillates from one musical idea to another in a repeating theme. The catchy theme tattoos to your mind as Witzel’s guitar lines lead you through the garden of thoughts. Aaron’s piano is the first to solo on the theme, expanding on the possibilities over this repeating melody. Witzel takes his turn using variously conceived, ascending and descending lines to accentuate his take this on this theme. Feiszli’s pizzicato bass work here adds a third interpretation.

“Israel” is a composition written by trumpeter/composer John Carisi and first heard on Miles Davis Birth of the Cool album from 1949. This minor blues tune was an important part of Bill Evans playing repertoire and here Witzel and bandmates execute this memorable piece with style and confidence. These guys swing on this one, led by Feiszli’s booming bass and Lewis’ responsive drum work. Aaron is the first soloist who mines some imaginative, blues-inspired improvisations in a trio of Feiszli’s bass and Lewis’s trap work.  It’s Witzel’s Wes-inspired guitar lines that take this tune into another orbit. Jim’s facility is marvelous and his fretboard ideas never seem to disappoint. Another example of how Evans’ repertoire still offers endless possibilities to creative artists.

This excellent album continues with Leonard Bernstein’s moving 1944 ballad “Some Other Time.”   Miles Davis composition “Nardis” includes a plucky opening pizzicato solo entre from Feiszli, and some great interplay by this intuitive group.  One my favorites Evan’s compositions “Peri’s Scope,” finishes of this album.

I first heard on his Portraits in Jazz with Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motion on drums from 1959. Witzel and company chooses to give this one a Latin rhythmic feel. Opening with Lewis’ syncopated stick work, the group takes it out with Witzel’s guitar leading the way into the ozone. Aaron’s piano spices things up with his own Latinized ideas as the rhythm section maintains the pulse energizing the melody to the finale. 

Guitarist Robben Ford plays the Blues on "Made to Last"

Robben Ford's Made to Last Sweetwater Studios

When your in the right mood, there is nothing like listening to some Blues. The Blues has been recorded for nearly one hundred years and although it often relies on simple three chord progressions it can still powerfully stir the soul and get the blood temperature rising. 

Guitarist Robben Ford has been plying his trade for over fifty years. Although the saxophone was his first instrument, he picked up the guitar at the age of fourteen and never looked back. Ford is one of those rare guitarist that can’t be pigeon-holed by genre. He seems equally comfortable in the worlds of rock, jazz and blues. The five-time Grammy nominated musician is now  sixty-six year old and has collaborated and played with a who’s who of musicians in his career including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie. Charlie Haden, Larry Carlton, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, George Harrison and Kiss to name just a few.

Robben Ford (photo credit unknown)

He joined the electric jazz world of Miles Davis in 1986 at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was enlisted into saxophonist Tom Scott’s fusion band the LA Express in the nineteen seventies. His collaboration with the progressive crossover group The Yellowjackets started in the late seventies and he recorded two albums with them in 1981 and 1983. Despite his ability to traverse the different genres with great facility it is the Blues that seem to be closest to his heart. His playing is said to be strongly influenced by the guitarist Mike Bloomfield, but Ford has matured developing his own signature style. He started his career playing for Bluesman Charlie Musselwhite back in 1969 at the age of eighteen and recorded a live album with Blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon sometime later.

Fast forward to 2018 and on April 6^th the guitarist/vocalist will release his latest Blues recording Made to Last. Ford is joined by the bassist Brad Allen, the drummer Wes Little, the rhythm guitarist Casey Wasner and Flecktones and Dave Mathews Band alumni, the versatile multi-reed artist Jeff Coffin.

From the opening power chords on Lightnin’ Hopkins “Good Times” Ford brings his tasty guitar and plaintive voice to vacuum you up into his orbit. The funky, synthesized saxophone of Coffin takes a few nasty licks of his own sounding like a chorus of horns, before Ford wails with his pungent, flowing guitar lines. The behind the beat drums of Little and the pulsing bass of Allen drive the song forward.

On the Willie Dixon classic “Crazy for My Baby” Ford’s voice leads the way as the rhythm section plays a rambling shuffle. Coffin’s raspy saxophone solo leads off before Ford plays a synthesized guitar solo, using the POG by Electro-Harmonix to create a double octave effect that has a unsettling feel to it, creating three notes at once.

Ford’s “Somebody’s Fool” is propelled by Wasner’s driving rhythm guitar, as Ford and Coffin take turns soloing. Ford’s guitar takes on a distinctively Southern rock tone as he pierces the changes with distinctive free flowing single note lines that perfectly punctuate the song. Coffin’s overdubbed saxophone almost sounds like a recreation of the Memphis Horns section.

On Lightnin’ Hopkins “Automobile Blues” we get the real Blues side of Ford. Again Coffin creates a backing horn section accompaniment that sounds as if three guys are playing it. Ford for his part is comfortably in his element on this slow cooker. His intonation is precise and liquid, and the rhythm section is firmly in the pocket. Coffin and Ford trade licks in a call and response that quivers with excitement. This one simmers.

The final song of this short but sweet cd is titled another Ford composition titled “the Champion” and here Ford switches to the trio of Dave Martin on bass and Nick D’Virgilio on drums. This is power trio stuff that harkens back to early Cream and yet it reminds a bit of the a late great  Roy Buchanan in its effectively raw simplicity. It's all Ford and his Gibson Les Paul guitar, with no vocals, just a straight ahead free-wheeling guitar jaunt.  Freed of the responsibility of singing, Ford’s lines seem even more unleashed and spontaneous than normal. Quite tasty.

For those who love great Blues guitar, Robben Ford’s Made to Last is no frills delight.

Man with the golden horn: Part Two of an Interview with trumpeter/vocalist/ big band leader Joe Gransden

Joe Gransden

Atlanta's Joe Gransden is the archetype of the successful working musician. He is an accomplished trumpet player, a silvertoned vocalist and a consummate entertainer. He has worked hard to establish a stellar reputation as an in demand performer, often working seven nights a week at various local venues. This indefatigable musician can be seen working as both a sideman or most often as a leader in duos, trios, quartet, quintet and big band formats. His tireless drive and his good natured charm has been key to allowing him to operate almost exclusively from his home base in Decatur. Gransden has chosen a life that is not as subjected to the demanding rigors of touring that most travelling musicians must endure to provide economic stability for their families. Joe's desire to create a sustainable career in the Atlanta area has been to the benefit of his followers, those jazz fans who covet great, professionally played jazz without having to go to New York, New Orleans or Los Angeles, and he has consequently garnered a large and loyal following. In the first part of our interview we talked to Joe about growing up in the Buffalo area, his musical family,  his early musical influences and some of his experiences in college and on the road honing his trade as a professional musician, You can link to the first part of the interview by clicking here.

In this part two of our two part interview we learn about Joe's take on several iconic trumpet players, how he met the actor Clint Eastwood, his work with the smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G., the balance between work and family, his work as a big band leader, his acting ambition and his future projects.

NOJ: Joe we talked about two of your major trumpet influences Allen Vizzutti and Joe Magnarelli. Now let's get your take on some of the major trumpet figures of the genre. I'm sure the trumpet players out there would find your take informative. Let's start with Louis Armstrong.

 JG: He’s affecting me now. I wasn’t into him as a kid.Now I love his tone,his endurance and  his love his phrasing. I put it right up there with Frank Sinatra.

NOJ: His phrasing as a player or as a singer?:

  JG: Both.

                                     

Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong

NOJ: What about Miles?

  JG:  Always affected me. Miles laid back sound and his sound. I always tried to copy Miles 

  tone. He was breathy, dark, not necessarily flat but maybe just little on the lower side of the     pitch just to create a little tension.

NOJ: How about Lee Morgan?

  JG: Yeah he affected me a lot. I transcribed a lot of his solos when I was a kid.

NOJ: What is the difference between Lee and Miles approach in your mind?

  JG: Tone first of all. Lee was much brighter and much more soulful in a bluesy way. His articulation was much different from Miles. His eighth notes were very aggressive. He used a lot of hard tongue on some of those notes. Miles was a lot more laid back.

NOJ: What about Dizzy ( Gilespie) ?

  JG: I always appreciated his playing but never really took to him. Wasn’t someone who I wanted to sound like.

NOJ:  How about Freddie (Hubbard)?

  JG: Freddie all day long. Transcribed him, great soloist, can’t play any of them. He was amazing, especially in the sixties, that record that he did with Herbie, Empyrian Isles, all those great tunes. Those CTI records I listened to them a thousand times.

Empyrean Isles

NOJ: Who do you think sounds most like Freddie these days?

  JG:  Jim Rotundi. He sounds like himself, but he also has a lot of Freddie’s phrasing and that ability to change registers so fast and smooth. You can want to sound like Freddie or Dizzy but maybe just not have the chops to do it. Jim’s got those chops.

NOJ: Well Miles never had those chops, but he figured out a way to play that was different than Dizzy but all his own.

  JG: He had chops in other ways that these guys didn’t have so it didn’t matter.

NOJ: Talking about chops how about Maynard Ferguson?

  JG: I just love Maynard. I knew early on I was never going to be that guy, I didn’t want to be     that guy, but God it was so cool. I saw him a lot. I saw him perform live many times and just loved what he could do on that trumpet. Just the fact that found his niche and he is probably one of five guys in the history of the instrument that could constantly play in that register and sound that good. I love Maynard Ferguson.

NOJ: Do you think when you are playing like that and everybody expects that you are going to play that almost unreachable high note, it takes away from the music, the art by becoming just another technical achievement?

  JG: That’s what it is and with the trumpet it is a big deal. I would say ninety-nine percent of the trumpet players would like to be able to play a double high C. If you take that ability and use it right. Maynard’s ability was like a golfer hitting a 400 yard drive. It was amazing to watch but it wasn’t necessarily going to get you all the way to a subpar game. I could always dig him because he had a great band and he was a great improviser. He knew how to sing on the trumpet.

NOJ: What about Kenny Dorham, he was a native of Atlanta?

  JG:   KD became my favorite trumpet player during the time I was playing with Joe Magnarelli because Joe loved him and hipped me to him. One of the records he told me to go out and get when I was dealing with trying to develop my ear was Quiet Kenny and the another was Afro-Cuban. Kenny had a way of articulating that I wanted to be able to develop. He kind of hits the note, scoops down a little and then pitches it back up. When I was doing it back then I sounded like I was trying to be Kenny. When he did it, of course, you could tell it was just him. It was just the way he played a note. He is another one that had that real soulful sound. Only Kenny Dorham has that tone. Love him. 

NOJ: Let’s talk about Chet, you have been compared to him.

  JG: Chet Baker is probably my all-time hero. I think it goes back to my early days when I spoke about how I was so into melody. When I started diving into Chet Baker, I got a record called Diane it came out in 1985. I think it's out of print. It was just him and piano. I would listen to that record all day long. I would sit in bedroom, close my eyes and try to pick out the notes he was playing.

NOJ: Well he was easier to follow, right?

  JG: He was easier to follow. He makes sense and he was never trying to do anything but make music. He wasn’t trying to play high, he wasn’t trying to play fast, he wasn’t really trying to copy anybody except maybe early on. You know you could tell he loved Miles. Chet became my hero, throughout his entire career, seemed like he always stayed pretty true to the music. 

His tone was gorgeous and when he wanted to play fast he could. Man he had just as good a technique as anyone. So he is probably my number one influence?

                  

NOJ: What about Woody Shaw?

  JG: Woody I’m just getting into him now. I was scared of him for a long time. 

NOJ: What was so special and scary about Woody’s playing?

  JG: I think it is just that no body played trumpet like that. All those intervals, all those pentatonic scales. It wasn’t simple melody coming out of his trumpet. It was more.

NOJ: Do you think he was the John Coltrane of the trumpet?

  JG: Yeah. When I heard him play live in 1986, I couldn’t even comprehend what he was doing and it frightened me. Sounded interesting, wasn’t quite for me then, and it is just now forty-five years old and I think what an idiot I am for not adding him to my bag of tricks. Because we all take from these guys we hear and I kind of avoided him, I think I was just afraid of him. 

NOJ:  Blue Mitchell?

  JG: One of my favorites. Tops the King of bebop trumpet playing. Just deep in the pocket swinging. I transcribed one of his records called Blue’s Moods. Love Blue Mitchell.

NOJ: Everyone had to listen to Clifford, right?

  JG: One of the top five of all time. Tone was great. He had kind of an airy tone that could change between bright and dark. His articulation and his ability to navigate the changes was I think incomparable. His ability at such a young age was ridiculous, just like Booker Little.

                                               Clifford Brown

NOJ: Speaking of Booker Little, besides him who are your favorite unsung               trumpet heroes?

  JG: My two favorite are Conte Candoli and Jack Sheldon. Jack and Conte we the guys who, in their time, could have easily become rock stars in their own right but they just got busy in the recording scene and quietly went their own way. Jack did the great trumpet part on "The Shadow of your Smile.” from the movie The Sandpiper. There is no better version of  that song.

NOJ: Let's talk about a more contemporary player like Wynton Marsalis?

  JG: I think he is the top of the top. He is the Tiger Woods, The Muhammad Ali in that he can   play classical, he can play jazz music, he is very soulful. I know early on there were some cats who questioned as whether he had lived enough to considered that great. He is probably in his early fifties now and his chops are in better shape than anyone on the planet. He is a great composer. He is the modern day Louis Armstrong and I have met him many times

and he is about as nice as you can be. I absolutely love Wynton Marsalis.

NOJ:  Let's get back to you. What is your personal practice discipline?

  JG: For most of my life it was like a drug, it was unbelievably powerful. It was all day long. It started with a warm up on the trumpet, playing exercises out of the Arvin book. It was hours of playing along with records once I met Joe and found out that was the way to do it. It never stopped. I would hear something on the radio and immediately try to figure it out. Nowadays, with a child and a family, it’s enough for me to get some maintenance on the horn. I’m working every night playing so it’s on my face every night. As far as learning new things and trying to grow as an artist in the practice room, it’s probably twenty-five percent of what it used to be. I’m just too busy. I always tell students and elders told me when I was younger, get it done now. You got to get it done early and it’s easier to absorb when you are younger. I practice for maybe ten minutes in a dark room free improvising, just to clear my head. But in some respects my life has become so much more than just a professional trumpet player. I am more of an entertainer now. I’m leading this big band, I’m singing, sometimes more than I’m playing.So I have to balance it all and I like it all just as much. 

NOJ: I’ve seen you in a duet, a trio, a quartet and leading the big band. What is your favorite format?

  JG: Small jazz groups are my favorite. However, entertaining a large crowd with the big band, there is nothing like it. The power of the big band is incredible. If the crowd happens to laugh at one of your stupid jokes or if they happen to feel something when you sing, it is really exciting. They react even if you are not a good singer because they hear those lyrics and they relate. It is an interesting balance to try to navigate.

NOJ:  You have been working in the Atlanta area for how long?

  JG: I did college here in 1991-92, went to New York for a few years and came back to Atlanta around 1995-1999 and then back to New York until 2001 then came back and stayed since then.

NOJ: What is it that drives you to maintain such a hectic schedule?

  JG: The obvious answer is money (laughing) and all kidding aside money is a necessary factor, it’s nice to be able to provide for your family. You have got to make a living, but the truth is I wouldn’t keep such a hectic schedule if I didn’t love the music and performing.I am at a place in my career where I could slow down a little bit (Joe often works six or seven nights a week). It’s all the preparation for the gigs, the telephone work, the business of the music that is so draining. Playing is the culmination of all that behind the scenes work.  I have been doing it myself since 2001. I kind of like that Gransden Music LLC is a one owner corporation and I am handling everything from what we will wear for the gig, what time we are going to eat, what songs we are going to play and I have no body breathing down my neck. So I like to put in that extra time to have that control.

NOJ : Tell us about your family and how the put up with the life of a working musician?

  JG: My wife Charissa is a classical flute player and the band director at the Lovett School. it is a private elementary to secondary school here in Atlanta. She is an incredible educator and has been named teacher of the year on several occasions. She gets the life of a musician. She is a musician so there is no problem there. For my six-year-old son Joseph, it can sometimes be a little challenging that daddy is not there to put him to bed or wrestle with him. I look at it like this, if I was a full time musician on the road, I might be away for six or seven months at a time, but I have been able to sleep in my own bed nine maybe ten months out of the year. So if I don’t get to put him to bed one night, I’m having breakfast with him in the morning. Or I’ll pick him up from school and we will have a couple of hours together. So the hard work that I have put in is great, I can make a living here in Atlanta.

If something comes along that says go to this city to perform, if the situation was right it would be no problem. 

NOJ:   When did you realize you wanted to both sing and play?

 JG: When I was playing at Veni Vidi Vici here in Atlanta in 1998. We were making fifty dollars each. It was me and Neal Starkey on bass and Bill Anschell on piano. Bill now lives in Seattle. We did every Sunday and every Wednesday and we got three months into the gig when the manager said "Everybody loves your band, but you have got to have a singer here." I said “Alright give me another fifty bucks and I ‘ll get you a singer.” He said “I can’t give you any more money,” so I said “How am I supposed to hire a singer?” So he said “Well I guess I'll just have to get another band that has a singer. “ So I said “Well I sing”and he said “Great, next Sunday you start singing.” I ran home and talked to my dad and asked him to show me some songs, because he was a great singer and knew all the songs. The following week I sang in my shaky voice and as soon as I started to sing people would look up and pay attention. I could see that the lyrics made a difference. That’s where I met my friend Bob Weiner who would later produce several of my albums. He used to come in and see us play and loved our music. He was a fan and he really helped my career and he is a good friend today.

NOJ: Who are your singing models and why?

 JG:  Frank Sinatra first for his phrasing. I love Ray Charles soulful way of singing and every once in awhile I’ll try to do a little of that in my vibe and when it works it feels so good, sometimes it doesn’t work, but it is fun to try. I just noticed when I try too hard to do something it only comes across as trying and when I don’t try it comes across more authentic.

NOJ: What about a guy like Chet Baker? Was he a singing inspiration?

  JG:  I love his tone and I love his ability to sing quietly but effectively without ever raising his voice. He never tried to do anything but get the melody across.

NOJ:  How about a singer like Billy Eckstine? Was he much of an influence?

  JG:  My mother loves Billy Ekstine, I don’t have a lot of his records, but I really enjoyed Joe Williams, Mel Torme and Nat King Cole. These days Kurt Elling is just killing. Gregory Porter is another monster singer.

There is an old record called In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Sinatra and strings, and it was recorded not too long after he and Ava Gardner split up. He was really hurting on this record and it’s all ballads. For a good many years, when I was being hired more as a singer than a trumpet player for corporate parties and events, I noticed that my singing was taking me further and making me more money and drawing more and more attention.  So every day I would practice to that record one side every day. I would sing note for note with Frank and practice his phrasing, and try to hold the notes the way that he did. I couldn’t hold the notes the way he did and I can hold a note on the trumpet because I circular breathe, so I couldn’t understand it. I was breathing incorrectly for singing and I eventually learned how to do that by mimicking Frank and it allowed me to be more creative with my singing.

NOJ: You have maintained a working big band now for seven years. How hard is it too keep such a disparate group of top notch musicians together?

 JG: The big band? It is extremely difficult, its painstakingly difficult its losing sleep difficult. Because they are so good and they are so busy with their own careers. It has gotten to the point now where I can pay them enough for them to show up- I can’t pay them what they are worth- but in the beginning we would have to split the money that would be barely adequate for a quintet amongst seventeen guys. Now we are busy enough that everyone is making more and getting a taste, most of the time, not all the time. Sometimes we do something for less if we think it will lead to something else. Now we are constantly dealing with subbing out because these guys are playing gigs with other people, so that’s always an issue. It’s is also seven years later now from when we started this band and most of the guys have families, kids and responsibilities. It’s tough.

 NOJ: What intrigues me is how you guys keep the tightness of a great big band when you obviously don’t get a chance to practice together on a regular basis. It is not like the old days when the bands traveled together for months at a time and lived and eat and slept together as a unit. How does this work now?

JG: In the old days the bands were like a family. It was in many respects a very difficult life. I know what you are talking about though, even when I started this band seven year ago, how difficult it could be to try to keep a group together, get practice space, manage a sound system and run around and book gigs. So that is why I got the gig at John Scatena’s Café 290 on the first and third Monday every month. We get paid a little bit, we play in front of a live audience which is good for the nerves, and we can try out new stuff. Wes Funderbunk, who plays lead trombone, arranges most of our charts, although some of the other guys are now arranging also. If I was going to do this gig I wanted to do it on a Monday night, like they do in New York, which is usually when nobody has a gig.  So that is our chance, twice a month to rehearse. If we crash and burn once in a while the crowd is so great we all just laugh and have a wonderful time. We get a thirty minute warm up before the show and we can get a lot accomplished in thirty minutes so it works. John Scatena has been extremely helpful and he has stuck with us all this time.

  

NOJ: How do the economics of a big band work in today’s market which is generally unkind economically to musicians?

 JG: Not very well. It is very difficult. I know Harry Connick Jr's band is down to five horns and he can charge pretty much what he wants. It is very difficult to have sixteen to eighteen musicians plus stage assistance to put a big band on the road. It would be almost impossible without a big name like Michael Buble or Harry Connick Jr.  or whoever tit is that can demand enough money to pay the guys. On the other hand in a local setting like the Southeast it is doable. It is doable to go to South Florida for one night and get paid enough to make it worthwhile.  But economically, if I was smart, it would be  more economically viable with  a six-piece band, but I also do that also, so the big band is something special.  If people want the big band for an event there are few people doing that.

NOJ: Are you playing weddings with the big band?

JG: Sure, we play a lot of concerts now. It used to be ten percent concerts and the rest would be corporate parties and weddings now it is like fifty percent concerts. We play at performing art centers, at clubs like the Blue Note. So no one else is really doing what we do in the South east.

NOJ:  The trombonist Wes Funderburk has been the principal arranger for your big band music. How and where did you meet Wes and how did he start arranging for the large ensemble?

   JG: I met Wes years ago at Georgia State University. We played in the jazz band there and played in countless settings over the years. We have always been friends and he has always been a talented arranger, but he really started to pour it on more in the early two thousand’s . With this band, as much as I wanted to play the stock arrangements of the old days to kind of pay tribute to that sound, I also wanted the band to have it’s own sounds. Since I don’t arrange for big bands, I had the option of going to someone who was well known for arranging or getting a guy that is in the band, who knows the abilities of each musician, who knows my abilities as a singer and a musician and who can arrange. That is why I said Wes you got to be the guy. He loved it. Early on, the first three or four years, he was writing like crazy and I would go over his house twice a week saying “yeah I love that," or "take that out, I can’t sing that.” Now he knows me so well that and I know him so well , we have such a great working relationship that all I have to do is say is I need an arrangement on this tune, with this tempo, this beat and he doesn’t have to ask me anything its always just right.

                                              Wes Funderburk

NOJ: Did Wes have any mentors and if not who does he pattern himself after as an arranger?

   JD: I know he loves Nelson Riddle, Billy May, but I really never had a long conversation with him about that. As a trombone player he loves JJ Johnson, Bill Watrous.

                                      Nelson Riddle and Frank Sinatra

NOJ: Do you want to pursue composing more of your own music or is that something that doesn’t interest you?

    JG: It is on my plate. It does interest me, I just have to make the time for it.  I do want to record an album of all originals in the next couple of years. I have written a handful of songs. I don’t focus on that and sometimes I am bothered by that, but I have had many musicians say to me you can’t do everything.

NOJ: The sound of a truly well-oiled big band is like no other. You are taken yours to the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC next week July 11, 2016 . I know it’s not your first time there, but it must be exciting to be given the opportunity to play this famous club once again. Tell us about the whole experience.

 JG: It is an amazing experience. This will be our fourth time so the unknown factor has sort of been removed. Every time we play the club for some reason we follow The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, they play Tuesday through Saturday and then we play Monday. So we have big shoes  when we go up there. Actually playing at the club is unbelievable. You get on that stage and you realize the history of that place, everybody has been on that stage. When you get here you think oh it’s a little club, but then you go in the dressing room and you think who else has been in this dressing room? You get on that stage and they announce your name and New York City so it’s always a great crowd. The house is usually big and they turn the lights on and it’s a feeling of magic and energy that is hard to explain. For us, we work so hard with this big band, it’s like a retreat, once a year..

NOJ:  I guess it’s almost like validation of some sort.

   JG: Yeah I think it is. We are playing the Blue Note, they are asking us to play this place. They know the financial risk.  They know it is hard for us. They have given me the option bringing in a smaller group, but they love the big band. We fly up, we go to dinner in Little Italy, it is just an awesome experience. 

NOJ:  It seems like you have generally avoided teaching as a supplement to your musical career? Do you  teach now?

   JG: I do teach. I teach privately at my studio at my house. I have between five to eight students a week. I only take very serious musicians, mostly take jazz trumpet players and I enjoy it.  I always said that I wasn’t going to let teaching get in the way of my performing. My wife who is a great flute player is one hundred percent dedicated to the education of her students, that is what she wants to do. If she was offered to play principal flute in some symphony I am sure she would say no. She would much rather help kids further their education musically. It’s not that I don’t want to help kids further their education, but it is just that my brain is wired to want to be on stage. As far a later in life would I be interested in teaching, I think I would be for sure.

NOJ: As if your musical endeavors are not enough you are also pursuing a career in acting. How did that come about? 

   JG: It was actually at the Blue Note. When I first met Clint Eastwood everybody started razzing me saying you are going to start make movies. On many occasions, because he liked Chet Baker so much and knew him, I asked him if  he had ever considered making a movie about Chet’s life? He said he definitely would be interested, but that he had never seen a screen play that he liked. So  myself and two other people wrote a screen play about Chet’s life. It took us two years and right about when we were ready to present it. this movie with Ethan Hawke comes out so that was that.

Back to the Blue Note, it was about three years ago. A guy came up to me after the show, he was getting ready to start a movie and asked me had I ever done any acting. So I said yeah, I totally lied. So I went to Jersey somewhere and took a screen test for this movie. He didn’t give me the  part, but he did say I think you can do this. Go back to Atlanta for six months and take some acting lessons, study and come back. I did just that. I studied with Shannon Eubanks, great actor, great coach. So I went back six months later and re-did the screen test and he gave me the part. It was a great movie and I was going to play the part of the best friend of the lead actor, and I had tons of lines and a lot of scenes. I was going to be very much over my head. But the film ran into financial and ownership problems, and unfortunately, to this day, the movie was never made. It is still on hold.

NOJ: Tell us how you got introduced to Clint Eastwood and where that relationship has taken you?

                                        Joe Gransden and Clint Eastwood

 JG: Clint I met maybe thirteen years ago. I have a friend in town who has produced a few of my cds. He loved my music and would tell me that I needed to get my music in front of people in the entertainment business. He told me to write a letter to Clint Eastwood and that he would get it to him. I thought he was crazy, but I did what he asked and sent a copy of one of the cds my friend  helped produce.  About a month later I got a call from Clint’s wife who said they had received the letter and the cd and that they would love for me to come to Carmel and play a party that they had coming up.  I fly there and picked up some local musicians from the area to play at this member party for his golf club. I stayed an extra two days and played golf with Clint and hung out and we talked about Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker.  He knew them back in the day, and it was great. We really hit it off in the sense that we both were into this music. That turned into many subsequent appearances at various functions for him and people he knew. I got to play along with Glen Campbell and Huey Lewis and Kenny G. That’s how I meet Kenny G. When the gig was over Kenny liked my playing and asked me to come to his house in Malibu and write a smooth jazz record together. At the time, I was more of a purist. The next day I was playing golf with Clint and told him that Kenny G wanted  me to do a record with him and I asked him should I do  it? He told me “What are you nuts, of course.” So that’s how I got to work with Kenny G. We did this record called Close to My Heart. Since then I have been friends with Kenny. Clint has influenced my career so much.

NOJ:  How did you overcome the reticence that you must have had to play this formulaic smooth jazz that Kenny is so famous for?  

   JG:  There were a number of reasons. One was it gave me a chance to be on a major stage. Secondly I liked him. He was a wonderful person to be around. I was hanging out with him a  little while at his house in Malibu and the guy is an amazing musician. I’d play him little riffs that I picked from listening to Freddie or someone, and if he liked it he would listen to it and pick it right up. These were the same things that took me months to pick up. So I could see he 

was a talented musician. Whether you’re a fan of his or not, the guy can play a melody. He has found a niche for himself and over a hundred million people have bought his records, so a lot more like him then don’t. I love him. When I get to play with him and his band it’s so professionally done. I am fully aware that when I  play this music it’s not the same as when I play really swinging jazz, but that’s true of a lot of pop music.

                                             Kenny G and Joe Gransden

I’m working on a pop song that is coming out soon, with the smaller section of my big band. Kipper Jones wrote this song for me it’s a great tune it’s called “Go Getta.” I think it could be a hit for us, but when we were recording this song, it was different from my usual gig. It was like what you’re talking about, maybe a bit more formulaic, more about let’s put the chorus here, or how can we make this a hit, or this section is too long for people’s attention. It was very little about creating and improvising in the studio and I didn’t take this as being a 

negative thing. What we were doing was a different side of music. Kenny G is the top of this side and Wynton Marsalis is the top of the other side and you can’t really compare those two musicians because they are both great at what they do.

NOJ: What new projects do have coming up after the Blue Note gig?

JG: As I said, the biggest thing is getting this pop tune out ,“Go Getta,” and releasing it at the right time and possibly producing a small, short video for it. We just converted from paper charts to all electronic charts on individual foot operated I pads for the big band. That was a huge project that has taken six months to get it where it is.

I also want to be a recording with the big band in the studio with a live audience, maybe thirty or forty people and I want to record the music like the old day. The big band and me right there in front of this audience. It might even make this a “Go Fund Me” type project. We as musicians are always working in and out of the studios, but I think it would be cool for some of the people who like the band and want to contribute to this project to get a chance to experience the recording studio atmosphere. It is a lot of pressure to have to sing and play live on a record it because there are no retakes, but I think we are ready for it.

NOJ: Got any anxious thoughts about the Blue Note gig?

  JG:  I have one. I ‘m going home after this to practice this new song that Clifford Brown wrote for his wife. It is called “La Rue” it is a ballad that Clifford wrote and this guy Rich Pullen wrote the lyrics to it and it has never been played. Bobby Shew turned Pullen on to me and he thinks I would be perfect to sing this. It is a Clifford Brown melody which is to say it is a trumpet melody and it is  difficult to sing. It’s a beautiful ballad so I’ll do my best, but we will premiere it at the Blue Note so I’m a little revved up about that.

NOJ: Any words of wisdom for any up and coming musicians who may be reading this?

  JG:  The most important thing as a musician is putting in the time early, practicing so that the technique is second nature and do the homework to listen to what came before you. If you love it, you have got to pursue it. Also learn to sight read well. The musicians that work the most are the musicians that can sight read the best.

NOJ:  Thanks Joe and good luck at the Blue Note.