DAVE STRYKER UPCOMING SHOWS + NEW RELEASE

 

Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies Dec 6 at 7:00 pm / 9:00 pm Shanghai Jazz 24 Main St  Madison NJ 972-822-2899 Dave Stryker Trio Dave Stryker - guitar Jared Gold - organ Steve Johns - drums Tickets & Info Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies Promotional Video Dave Stryker Guitar Xavier Davis Piano & Fender Rhodes Jeremy Allen Acoustic & Electric Bass McClenty Hunter Drums   Sara Caswell violin solo (tracks 1 & 8) Greg Ward alto saxophone solo (tracks 4 & 7) / Jim Pugh trombone solo (track 9) Mark Buselli flugelhorn solo (track 7) ORCHESTRA: Brent Wallarab - Arranger & Conductor Trombone - Jim Pugh (lead), Tim Coffman, Jeff Parker, Andrew Danforth, Richard Dole (bass) / Alto & soprano saxophone - Greg Ward Trumpet - Mark Buselli, Jeff Conrad / 17 piece string section - Sara Caswell (Concertmaster) Dec 19 at 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm Tavern on George 361 George St New Brunswick NJ 732-545-6205 Dave Stryker Trio Dave Stryker - guitar Jared Gold - organ Steve Johns - drums Tickets & Info West Orange guitarist Dave Stryker got himself some strings and he’s taking ‘em all to the movies. The album—Stryker with Strings Goes To The Movies (Strikezone Records)—doesn’t come out until January 10 but he’s laid a little something on us for the meantime. And it’s a flat-out doozy. We loved this guy even before he blew us away opening for Steely Dan. But the advance single from the album—“Theme From Shaft”—totally revitalizes 1971’s Shaft tune into a big, boiling machine complete with 30-piece studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Brent Wallarab.  Check it out at https://orcd.co/dstfs. We’re told the album has themes for such movies as Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Anatomy of a Murder, Picnic and Gunn plus some James Bond action (You Only Live Twice). Looks like Dave’s taste in cinema is just as cool as his taste in music.—By Mike Greenblatt THE JERSEY SOUND Check Out The First Single From Dave Stryker's January 2025 New Release Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies "THEME FROM SHAFT" Album drops Jan 10, 2025 30 piece studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Brent Wallarab Photo by by Chris Drukker  AVAILABLE FROM: CPI Distribution, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, www.davestryker.com Music and movies are the most captivating, the most arresting of all art forms. In their immersive magic they spark the inner powerhouse of emotions and dreams that illuminates the soul. Inspired by their 2023 Emmy-winning PBS special Wes Montgomery at 100: A 100th Birthday Tribute Concert, guitarist Dave Stryker and arranger and conductor Brent Wallarab decided to explore their mutual love of movies by recording 11 classic movie themes with a 30-piece studio orchestra. Each musician brought an impressive jazz pedigree to the collaboration. Stryker’s resume includes signi cant stints with organist Jack McDu  and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine before establishing himself as a name and a force in his own right. Wallarab has co-led the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra for three decades, most recently recording his magnum opus to date The Gennett Suite, an expansive 21st-century big-band reimagining of classic jazz that Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and others recorded for the Gennett label in the 1920s. Stryker and Wallarab decided to employ an unusual instrumental con guration for this album with a 30-piece studio orchestra featuring jazz quartet, strings, and trombones, punctuated by solo work from violinist Sara Caswell, saxophonist Greg Ward, trumpeter Mark Buselli, and trombonist Jim Pugh. The rich but always tastefully-restrained strength of Wallarab’s writing for brass and strings is underpinned by what Stryker calls a “take-no-prisoners, real New-York-style” rhythm section of Xavier Davis on piano, Jeremy Allen on bass, and McClenty Hunter on drums that keeps the groove  owing throughout the album, whatever the mood or tempo. The result yields much for everybody to enjoy, from the most seasoned jazz a cionado to the most casual listener, with a fresh repertoire that draws heavily on  lms from the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s—formative cinematic years for the two artists at the wheel here. Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies is the product of months of creative sweat and toil. It’s also the sound of a new artistic partnership forged between guitarist Stryker and arranger-composer Wallarab. “He made it cinematic,” says Stryker of Wallarab’s writing throughout the album. “It’s just gorgeous. He’s such a great arranger and musician. Because of him, we came up with something really special.”  Wallarab is quick to return praise for the star and leading man of this production: “Dave’s reputation as one of the most swinging guitarists alive is accurate and well-deserved. But it’s his innate understanding of how to serve, through subtle nuance, each individual tune that is equally amazing. Every melody statement and improvised solo is perfectly shaped for the song and for the arrangement. His solos start, arc, and conclude as a perfect part of the composition, and he gets it right every single time.” —From the liner notes by David Brent Johnson / WFIU-Bloomington, IN