Dave Stryker displays his trio in 'Prime' form on new CD

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Dave Stryker has honed his trio mastery with Jared Gold and McClenty Hunter.
Since joining the adjunct faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Dave Stryker has anchored his national reputation as guitarist and bandleader in Bloomington. But his long association with major artists in New York City had moved him into the top rank of jazz guitarists decades ago.

On Strikezone Records, his masterly, seasoned organ trio makes a major statement with "Prime," evincing  his affinity with organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter. The title tune finds all three players contributing essential output and verve to the music.  This rapport is characteristic. Stryker's compositions (eight of the nine on this disc) are varied, but the overall impression is of a keenly focused ensemble.

Gold has a dry, sometimes pointillistic organ style that opens up many avenues of harmonic and melodic dialogue with the guitar. There can be a touch of nicely smeared, bluesy funk to Gold's playing when appropriate, as in the soulful, laid-back "Lockdown." The mood is definitive in Stryker's smoky, reflective solo.

The leader's own saturation in that side of jazz was long ago attested to in his sideman work with Stanley Turrentine and Jack McDuff. It shows up concisely in such moments as his unaccompanied introduction to the bouncy "Dude's Lounge," which concludes the CD and recalls Stryker's early development at the Harlem club of that name.

Hunter's lively, in-the-pocket manner is typically forward on that tune. His solo there settles into a snare-drum groove with tom-tom accents; it amiably invites the rest of the trio back in to end the set. The drummer kicks the peppy "Mac" into high gear at the start. The piece features Gold in his more florid aspect. The chording of organ and guitar is steadily complementary; there is nothing routine about either instrument in accompaniment. 

"Captain Jack," in clear tribute to McDuff, maintains its sunny, medium-swing manner. It features an especially witty, delightfully eccentric organ solo. The plainly but significantly titled "Hope" has an upward reach to its theme that is underlined by the harmonic patterns Gold lays down. 

This disc is indeed a prime example of its durable guitar-organ-drums genre, as guided by a veteran musician appropriately placed in the mentor stage he deserves, while not resting on his ever-fresh laurels.

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