YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO CLICK WITH THE LISTENING WORLD.
GUITARIST DAVE STRYKER HAS CARVED OUT A CAREER AS A ‘GUITARIST’S GUITARIST’, STARTING HIS CAREER WITH BLUESY SOUL PLAYERS LIKE STANLEY TURRENTINE AND BROTHER JACK MCDUFF BEFORE GOING ON HIS OWN AND DELIVERING MODERN BOP WITH ALTO SAXIST STEVE SLAGLE FOR YEARS OF SWINGING HEAVEN.
SO WHAT HAS HAS GOTTEN HIM THE MOST AIRPLAY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS?
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SANTA CLAUS AND 8 TRACKS.
BACK IN 2014, STRYKER CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF PLAYING TUNES THAT HE LISTENED TO BACK IN THE DAYS HE CRUISED AROUND TOWN IN HIS CAR ON HIS 8 TRACK (WHICH FOR THOSE UN-INITIATED, WAS THE PRECURSOR TO CASSETTES AND THEN CDS). BRINGING IN HUMMING HAMMOND WORK REMINISCENT OF HIS DAYS WITH MCDUFF, STRYKER DELIVERED JAZZY TAKES OF PIECES LIKE “WICHITA LINEMAN”, “AQUARIUS” AND EVEN “PUSHERMAN/SUPERFLY”.
IT CAUGHT ON LIKE WILDFIRE.
HE’S DONE A FOLLOWUP, AS WELL AS A CHRISTMAS VERSION, MAKING THE THIRD NATAL ALBUM HIS CATALOGUE. QUITE A STOCKING STUFFER!
HE’S RECENTLY GONE BACK TO ANOTHER OF HIS STRENGTHS, LOCKING UP A FRONT LINE WITH A TENOR SAXIST, THIS TIME IN THE PERSON OF BOB MINTZER OF YELLOWJACKET FAME. TOGETHER, BACKED BY THE WDR BIG BAND, THE RECORDED A CONCERT THAT PUT TOGETHER ALL OF THE QUALITIES THAT HAVE MADE STRYKER’S CAREER SO IMPRESSIVE: SOUL, FEEL AND LYRICISM.
WE HAD A PHONE CONVERSATION WITH STRYKER, AND AS WITH HIS MUSIC, HE WAS ENGAGING, ACCESSIBLE AND ENTERTAININGLY PROFESSIONAL.
I SAW YOU A NUMBER OF TIMES AT THE OLD JAZZ BAKERY.
That was a really nice place, with those plastic chairs.
They would put us up in the hotel where The Munchkins (from The Wizard of Oz) all stayed at. There were pictures in the hotel of The Munchkin days. Apparently, the Munchkins got pretty out of hand at times. (laughs)
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“If you really want to learn this music, you need to listen to a few things a lot instead of a million things a little”
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LET’S DO A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY BEFORE WE DELVE INTO YOUR LATEST ALBUM WITH BOB MINTZER.
YOU GREW UP LISTENING TO ROCK AND BLUES; WHAT MADE YOU VEER TOWARDS JAZZ AS A CAREER?\
Like a lot of kids, I started out with The Beatles. I had an older sister and she had all of the Beatles’ 45s, so I immediately wanted to be a rock guitar player.
I started taking lessons, and by the time I was 12, I had a little trio and even started playing around town a little bit. I always learned the songs off of the records and radio.
The first record I ever bought was Disraeli Gears by Cream. That’s still a great record, and then it was Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix.
Little did I know that Hendrix and Clapton were basically playing Chicago Blues. That led into Santana and Abraxas and The Allman Brothers’ Live At The Fillmore where they were taking longer solos.
I then went to the Union Hall in Omaha, Nebraska and sat in with some guys that were playing (Horace Silver’s) “Song For My Father”, and though I had no idea about it, I got up with my long hair and Telecaster and started ripping into my rock and roll licks. One guy says “Hey, man, this is jazz; you can’t be playing those rock and roll licks here”.
So I went down to the record store the next day and said “I want some jazz records”. The guy pointed me to the back of the store, and somehow I walked out with George Benson and John Coltrane under my arms, started listening and got my mind blown.
I went to a local jazz jam again; the local sax man heard me, took me under his wing, took me to his house and showed me how to play some songs.
My friends and I then started playing tunes, got some gigs in Omaha and by the time I got out of high school I was at a Hilton playing six nights a week for a six week run. It was a five hour gig where the first half would be standards for dancing like “Ipanema” and “Satin Doll” and the second half would be Top 40, and then we’d go home and play jazz.
That was the time when Weather Report, Chick Corea and these kind of things were out, and then once I heard Pat Martino, Grant Green and Wes Montgomery it was all over. That’s what I wanted to do.
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“Little did I know that Hendrix and Clapton were basically playing Chicago Blues”
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HOW DID JACK MCDUFF CHANGE YOUR TRAJECTORY?
All of my favorites played with Jack, from Benson, Green and Martino, so he was always on my radar. In ’78 I moved from Omaha to LA, and there was a place called “Jimmy Smith’s Supper Club” and I would hang out there a lot, especially on Monday when they’d have a jam session.
It was a tiny joint, but he had a Leslie speaker on each end of the room and a mirror above his Leslies. It had a tiny stage, and there’d be these tambourines hanging on the wall by the bar. During a boogaloo he’d have the waitresses grab a tambourine, and start hitting it. It was a great scene.
Jack came in one night and said “When you come to New York, look me up”.
I moved to New York in 1980, went to Harlem and sat in with him at The Lickety Split Lounge. I guess I was prepared, and ended up working with Jack for a couple of years, traveling all over the place and paying dues traveling in his big van that he had converted to a camper with his B3 in the back. It was a great time, but I was definitely pay my dues and am so grateful that I got that experience.
When we weren’t on the road he had a steady four night a week gig in Harlem at Dude’s Lounge at 56th and St. Nick (now St. Nick’s Pub). We played from 10 at night until 4 in the morning. (laughs)
All the cats would come through: Lonnie Smith, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Lou Donaldson, and I met Stanley there. He asked me to join his band, and was with him for over ten years.
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR TIME WITH MCDUFF WAS YOUR BAPTISM BY FIRE WITH THE SOUL JAZZ FEEL.
There was no question that it was a baptism by fire.
I had been listening to that stuff, like those Grant Green records, and I knew what I wanted to sound like. I had a decent enough feel, and he heard something there in me. There were a lot of guitar players that lasted only a gig or two with him.
He could be…let’s just say he wouldn’t be “politically correct” in describing what he wanted from you. (laughs)
To follow Jack with the great Joe Dukes on drums, you had to have feeling in your playing. You couldn’t just play just a bunch of notes; you had to play with soul. It was inspiring to try to come up to their level.
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” It had a tiny stage, and there’d be these tambourines hanging on the wall by the bar. During a boogaloo he’d have the waitresses grab a tambourine, and start hitting it. It was a great scene”
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WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE HE GAVE YOU?
One that I remember well was that he’d say, “When you’re looking out at the audience, and if they ain’t bobbing their heads that means you ain’t doin’ your job”. In other words, people want to feel it. They don’t care about a lot of fancy notes; it’s got to feel good first.
The big three are sound, rhythm and notes in that order.
YOU SEEM TO GRAVITATE TOWARD TENOR SAX PLAYERS, ALTHOUGH YOU HAD A LONG TIME ASSOCIATION WITH STEVE SLAGLE. WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?
I think that the sound of the tenor sax and guitar is a beautiful blend, especially in the organ thing. It’s just a classic sound. All the greats, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt did it.
We’re in the same register, so when we play the melody together, it gives it a sweet sound. Alto sax is a little bit higher; it’s just nice to have somebody to share the melody with to fatten it up.
With the Eight Track stuff we threw in the vibraphone, which gave it another sound. It’s nice to have a foil like that.
DID YOU PICK STANLEY TURRENTINE’S BRAIN DURING YOUR TENURE WITH HIM?
I learned from Stanley mostly by playing with him. He didn’t say a whole lot, but if you got the gig, that meant that you belonged. You really had to step up your game, because that man never played a bad solo in his life.
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“(Jack McDuff said) ‘When you’re looking out at the audience, and if they ain’t bobbing their heads that means you ain’t doin’ your job'”
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DID YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR GAME PLAN WHEN YOU PLAYED WITH SOMEONE A BIT MORE POST BOP LIKE CHRIS POTTER?
You always have to be who you are.
I’ve been out here awhile, and I like playing with Houston Person as well as Chris Potter1210. My thing is that I came out of the blues thing as a foundation. When you heard me with Steve Slagle, I was taking it out and going a bit modern, too.
I try to feel that my style has a blues root, but I’m not locked into it; I like Coltrane too!
ONE THING WHERE YOU ARE UNIQUE IS THAT UNLIKE SO MANY OTHER GUITARISTS THESE DAYS, YOU DON’T HAVE AN ARSENAL OF 20-30 DIFFERENT GUITARS-YOU KEEP PRETTY LOYAL TO ONE.
I’ve been using this one Gibson for pretty much my whole life.
I do have that same “guitar disease” as other guys, and have plenty of guitars that I like to pull out. But, when push comes to shove I end up using my Gibson 347. I started using it when I was with Stanley; when I started making records I wanted a little different sound, they “typical jazz guitar” sound. I felt that it gave me that, but I sound the same no matter what guitar I play.
You get comfortable with something and you keep going back to it.
Before whole COVID 19 thing happened I picked up an old 1956 Gibson 125, so I call it my “Pandemic Guitar”
WHAT DO YOU LISTEN FOR WHEN YOU SEE A GUITARIST PERFORM?
The time feel is super important; you can’t get around where they put the time. If they are telling their own story and making music, I’m all for it.
DO YOU HAVE A PET PEEVE ABOUT GUITARISTS?
What could you possibly have a pet peeve about guitarists? (laughs)
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“The big three are sound, rhythm and notes in that order”
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YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT YOUR SOUL JAZZ STUFF, BUT I MUST CONFESS THAT THE ALBUMS OF YOURS THAT I LISTEN TO MOST OFTEN ARE YOUR CHRISTMAS ALBUMS! HOW DID YOU GET INTO THAT GENRE?
The first one, the solo guitar one, was hardly released.
After 8 Track Three, that was supposed to be the final one. As Stefon Harris said, we completed the Trilogy.
But that summer in June, that album took off and went #1 for six weeks. People really related to the whole idea of hearing a song that they recognized from that era, but having a new twist put on it.
It’s nothing radical that I did. People have been doing it forever; McDuff and Turrentine were doing it for years.
It did so well that Stefon said, “You’ve got to do a Christmas record,” but I always put it off.
But when 8 Track Three hit, the lightbulb went off, and I thought “8 Track Christmas!”
I called Stefon up, thinking we were pretty much done with the 8 Track stuff, and asked him if he’d be interested. He said, “I love Christmas, man”.
He told his manager “I dig Santa, and I dig Dave” (chuckles) He’s also got two little kids.
That was a lot of fun. But it’s funny in the middle of June to re-arrange Christmas music and recording it. It was really hot outside.
I was happy with it. It got picked in Rolling Stone and the New York Times; people like Christmas!
YOUR 8 TRACK SERIES SEEMS LIKE YOU’RE TRYING TO CREATE A “BOOMER SONGBOOK”
I had an 8 Track player high school in my van.
I always tried to play one song a set on my gigs, like a Carpenters ballad like “Close To You”, and could see people reacting to it. So, I’d think, “yeah, that’s going to be on my next record” and I’d tell the audience “That’s coming from my next album, ‘Dave plays hits from his 8 track’” and the people would laugh.
But then people would start coming up and say, “Hey, man, when’s that ‘8 Track’ record coming out?
That’s when the lightbulb went off in my head, and I realized I had to hurry up and make the record before someone else steals my idea.
The first one we did was a lot of fun, trying to find tunes that we could still improvise over and get into. People seemed to really like it, and it went to #2.
Those songs don’t need me to say how great they are. That was a great period of music: soul music, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind and Fire…those are just wonderful tunes. It was just a matter of figuring a way to put my own stamp on them.
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“That was a great period of music: soul music, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind and Fire…those are just wonderful tunes. It was just a matter of figuring a way to put my own stamp on them”
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YOU BRING UP AN INTERESTING ISSUE ABOUT LISTENING TO 8 TRACKS BACK THEN.
DO YOU THINK THAT THE FACT THAT MOST PEOPLE DOWNLOAD MUSIC MAKES A DIFFERENCE ON HOW THEY ABSORB IT AND THEREFORE “GET INTO” IT?
IT SEEMS WITH 8 TRACKS, CASSETTES AND ALBUMS YOU WOULD TEND TO LISTEN TO THE SAME SONGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND I THINK THAT IS MISSING NOWADAYS. PEOPLE DON’T SEEM TO MEMORIZE THE NUANCES OF SONGS ANYMORE.
This is what I tell my students. I say “If you really want to learn this music, you need to listen to a few things a lot instead of a million things a little.”
WHAT ELSE DO YOU TELL THEM?
I make them transcribe the greats. For this music to keep going forward you have to respect what has come before. It’s hard to teach how to play with a good feel, so the best way is to do that, besides living life, is to listen to guys that have a good feel and let it soak into your playing.
WHAT MUSICIAN WOULD YOU PAY $1000 TO SEE, LIVING OR DEAD?
Of course Coltrane, Wes Montgomery. That’s two grand. (laughs) Grant Green. Sound, feeling, notes.
WHAT THREE BOOKS DO YOU RECOMMEND EVERYONE SHOULD READ?
I like biographies and autobiographies of musicians. I read them all. Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock.
On the other hand, I also like adventure books. I’m reading The Terror by Dan Simmons right now; about the old wooden ships that tried to cross the passage up north and got stuck in the ice.
I just read the book who solo climbed El Capitan; The Impossible Climb by Mark Synnott. That was fascinating. They actually made a movie about it, too. That’s one of the greatest events of human history.
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“You really had to step up your game, because (Stanley Turrentine) never played a bad solo in his life”
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WHOSE BRAIN WOULD YOU LOVE TO SIT WITH AND PICK FOR AN EVENING?
As a musician, I’d have to say Sonny Rollins. Deepak Chopra would be another one, especially in times like this, where we need someone to think in terms of the big picture spiritually. Things are so crazy right now.
Things are so negative out there right now that I feel that music is our chance to put positive energy out into the world. I don’t need to name names. (laughs)
That’s why I feel that if you can put some music out there that has a positive vibe…that’s why I put out this record Blue Soul . A lot of people said they weren’t going to put anything out right now, but I felt something needed to be out there. We’re all sitting around and uncertain, so I wanted to put some positive music out there.
I’m very happy with this record. It’s a thrill to play with Bob Mintzer and his arrangements of my music. It was a great opportunity to play with the WDR Big Band, which is world class. It was a real blast.
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“Things are so negative out there right now that I feel that music is our chance to put positive energy out into the world. I don’t need to name names. (laughs)”
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AND BOB IS A REAL POSITIVE GUY.
Absolutely. We just did a Facebook Live broadcast for my teaching website, artistworks.com. Bob joined in with us. It’s pretty cool .
WHAT DO YOU WANT THEM TO SAY WHEN THEY PUT YOU SIX FEET UNDER?
“He kept swinging”
LIKE HIS MUSIC, STRYKER COMES ACROSS LIKE A POSITIVE FORCE DURING A TIME IN WHICH WE NEED SO DESPERATELY SOMETHING TO CHEER US UP. MAYBE THAT’S WHY HE LIKES CHRISTMAS ALBUMS SO MUCH, AS HIS MUSIC IS A PRESENT FOR US ALL.