Dave Stryker - Eight Track III
Guitarist Dave Stryker has a great lineup here – a quartet
with Stefon Harris on vibes, Jared Gold on Hammond, and McClenty Hunter on
drums – all musicians we really love as leaders on their own, and who bring
plenty to this session with Stryker! The mix of guitar, organ, and vibes is
great – occasionally augmented by percussion from Mayra Casals, which opens up
the groove even more – as Dave and the group work their way through a host of
70s soul and funk classics, but in ways that are a lot more jazz overall, and
never slavishly retro to their roots – unlike other records of this nature.
Titles include "Pretzel Logic", "Too High", "Everybody
Loves The Sunshine", "After The Dance", "Joy Inside My
Tears", "Move On Up", and "Papa Was A Rolling
Stone". ~ Dusty Groove
Neue Grafik - Foulden Road
A great little record that's jazz at the core, but a lot
hipper too – a great statement from London keyboardist Neue Grafik, issued on
the label of that city's hip Total Refreshment Centre club! Grafik plays plenty
of great solos on piano, Fender Rhodes, and other keyboards – but there's
almost equal focus on the rhythms and cosmic energy of the tunes – a mode that
seems to almost have these London musicians bringing back the qualities to jazz
that some of that city's broken beat producers were lifting back at the start
of the century! That's not to say that the music is broken beat at all – just
that it bristles with a cosmic vibe that's totally great – driven strongly by a
core quartet with Dougal Taylor on drums, Matt Gedrych on bass, and Emma Jean
Thackray on trumpet – with guest work from Nubya Garcia on tenor, Tanguy
Jouanjan on trumpet, Esinam Dogbatse on flute, and both Allysha Joy and Brother
Portrait on vocals. Titles include "Hotel Laplace", "Something
Is Missing", "Voodoo Rain", "Dalston Junction",
"Foulden Road", and "Dedicated To Marie Paule". ~ Dusty Groove
Fredrik Ljungkvist - Atlantis
Very deft reed work from Fredrik Ljungvkist – heard here
mostly in a trio, with a style that has him turning all these sharp corners
along with the rhythms! Fredrik plays saxes and clarinet, always with a style
that's deeply soulful and never too coldly modern – and which seems to come from
tenor mostly, set up alongside the bass of Mattias Welin and drums of Jon Falt
– both players who seem to absorb the inherent rhythm in the reeds of
Ljungkvist, then amplify it back, and give the leader a strong direction
forward! Most tracks are trio numbers – but the set features three guest
appearances, each on a track – Max Agnas on piano, Sofia Jernberg on voice, and
Goran Strandberg on piano. Titles include "Very Early",
"Atlantis", "So Do So Do Re", "Rue Oberkampf",
"Monk's Dream", and "Flykt". ~ Dusty Groove
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