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In the spring of 2020, Dave Stryker’s long-standing trio of organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter was booked to play a concert out of town. Due to the pandemic, in lieu of traveling they were given the opportunity to tape a show that could be streamed by the venue. Inspired by getting the chance to play together again after eight months in lockdown and knowing they would be in the studio, the guitarist was motivated to write an album of new music—his first to feature this trio exclusively. “Prime” was recorded live in studio with just one take per song and no overdubbing.
Bill Mays has long been regarded as a musician’s musician among jazz cognoscenti. For 15 years he worked in the studios of Hollywood and with the West Coast’s leading musicians, from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa. Mays moved to the East Coast in 1984 to focus on his jazz playing, becoming a fixture on the New York scene, including long stints with Gerry Mulligan and Phil Woods. The trio has been Mays’ go-to ensemble for many years. For his 40th recording as a leader, “Autumn Serenade,” he recruited two musicians with whom he has shared more than 35 years of musical experience: bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Ron Vincent.
Also this week, saxophonist, composer and arranger John C. Gardner leads his Philly-based “Gardyn Jazz Orchestra” in a program of tunes honoring the memory of the family members, mentors and friends lost over the last couple of years;
trumpeter and composer John Bailey, who has had long-running stints in the bands of Woody Herman, Ray Charles, and Ray Barretto, unveils his third album as a leader, “Time Bandits”;
and veteran guitarist Ed Cherry was recorded at GB’s Juke Joint in New York City for his new disc, “Are We There Yet?”