This week’s edition of Mondays with Morgan is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and guitarist Dave Stryker, along with saxophonist Bob Mintzer. The two collaborated for Groove Street, featuring Mintzer with Stryker’s organ trio, which includes organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter, Jr.
When tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer is asked to reflect on the late Wayne Shorter, one of the leading voices on his instrument in his time, his ensuing expressions could certainly apply to himself: “An incredible stylist and individualist. He had his own vocabulary, not only as a saxophone player, [but] as a thinker, as a speaker. He was a very brave, bold, intelligent person who wrote music that sounded like nothing else.”
Mintzer accompanies Stryker’s long-running organ trio on Groove Street; therein, they cover Shorter’s unbelievably haunting ballad ‘Infant Eyes,’ from his 1966 album Speak No Evil.
This is an ace organ trio with a leading tenorist, creating an irresistible listening experience that was tracked in only a few hours. Read on for the interview with Stryker and Mintzer, about all this and more.
UKJazz News: Dave and Bob, how did you come to work together?
Dave Stryker: I think the first time I heard Bob Mintzer was with Buddy Rich in Omaha, Nebraska, where I’m from, in the ‘70s. I just knew about Bob from him being one of the heavy tenor players on the New York scene, and our paths crossed several times.
I had a few gigs with the organ trio a few years ago, and asked if he would join us. He did, so we’ve been friends for a long time, in and out of music.
One of the cool things about [this] record, I think, is that we were playing the music together for the first time. And with jazz, that has a certain spark and magic.
Bob Mintzer: If I remember correctly, we did the whole record in about four hours. It was just incredibly quick, mostly first takes, and there was that level of spontaneity from that particular situation.
DS: And that included lunch, and bullshitting a lot too. [Laughs.]
That’s one of the beautiful things about jazz, especially straight ahead jazz. On all the records I’ve done in that format, it really seems like the first take is the one.
I think on only a couple of the songs did we use a second take. So, it was not belaboured or anything; it was just go in and blow, and it felt great.
BM: I love playing with Dave; his group is so solid and welcoming. It’s always a big treat to join them. And Dave’s great – he’s a great composer and guitarist. Another project we did together was with the WDR Big Band — I conducted it over in Cologne. I brought Dave over, and arranged a bunch of his music from his CDs for the big band, and that was a fantastic project as well.
DS: I just heard that on WBGO the other day, and I had to text him and tell him this version of ‘Trouble Man’ he arranged was so smoking, man.
If I ever feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends, I just remember Bob Mintzer. Between the Yellowjackets and WDR and running the program at USC – and his own gigs, and big band – come on, it’s crazy.
UKJN: Can you guys talk about your chemistry with Jared and McClenty?
DS: It’s been really nice to have a working trio for almost 15 years now. Both those guys are a little bit younger than me.
There used to be a club in West Orange called Cecil’s, that was run by the drummer named Cecil Brooks. I mean, I live in West Orange; I had to drive by there every time I got off the interstate.
They had a jam on Monday nights. The alto player Bruce Williams ran it, and I would always go there. He had this young guy on organ – Jared Gold. The first time I heard him, I was like, Wow, this guy is a great musician, besides being a great organ player. His harmony thing is kind of on another level.
So, we started a group: me, him, and [drummer] Tony Reedus. We started playing and doing a couple of records. And then, unfortunately, Tony passed [in 2008], and Jared recommended McClenty. So, for 15 years, this has been my main group.
There’s just something about playing with guys and being friends and having that natural chemistry that’s special. It’s nice in this day and age, of doing so many different kinds of gigs and things, to have a working group. I’m sure Bob can relate to that with the Yellowjackets.
BM: 34 years.
UKJN: Bob, what’s it like playing with these guys?
BM: It’s just very comfortable, challenging, inspiring. We speak the same dialect, I feel. And I love the music; I love everything about it. And it’s welcoming; it’s everything you’d want in a playing situation. I can just be myself and do what I do, and I feel welcomed. It’s a beautiful thing.
DS: And there’s also something to be said for the classic records that we all love — the organ trio with guitar, B-3 and drums. And then you add tenor, and it’s a great match. I got to work with [tenor saxophonist] Stanley Turrentine, and I know Bob’s a fan of all those records he did with his wife, [organist] Shirley Scott.
It’s just a whole genre that’s really about groove and soulfulness, and something people dig; people feel that. I remember Jack McDuff told me, “Stryker, if you look into the audience and people aren’t going like this [bobs head with the groove] you’re not doing your job.”
UKJN: Bob, what’s your history with the B-3?
BM: Very little. Actually, I’m not sure why I didn’t go down that road. I was just doing other things. I did a [2010] record with Larry Goldings and Peter Erskine called Canyon Cove, and that was a real treat.
To get to play with Dave’s group is something I missed out on early on, and it’s great. I love that aspect that Dave mentioned, of just grooving and making the music feel good. Not reinventing jazz in any profound way, per se, but just making it swing, and making it feel good.
UKJN: Since you didn’t have much history with the B-3, was there any tilting your brain to meet the moment?
BM: I mean, I had listened to B-3 players, and been exposed to them. But no, it’s not so different from any other kind of playing. The same principles apply – the same way of interacting.
As opposed to playing with a quartet, where it’s piano, bass, and drums in the rhythm section, now it’s guitar, organ, and drums. If it’s players that pay attention, there’ll be a nice level of interactivity. And that’s definitely the case with this group; they really played together beautifully. And, again, it was easy to hop on the train.
UKJN: Dave, can you speak to the material on Groove Street?
DS: Early on, I asked Bob to bring in a couple of things, and asked Jared as well. I just knew I needed another shuffle; you’ve got to have that. [We ended up with] ‘Groove Street,’ the title track of the record, and ‘Code Blue,’ which is another blues in F.
And I wanted something a little more uptempo, burning, free, that I knew Bob would sound great on. And that was a tune, ‘Summit.’
Wayne [Shorter] had passed, and I needed a ballad. We came up with a cool arrangement of ‘Infant Eyes.’ And then, I wanted a groover. I knew Bob had covered some other [tune by tenor saxophonist] Eddie Harris or two, so I asked him if he’d done ‘Cold Duck.’ He said yes, so we threw that one on there.
Jared wrote one of his cool tunes [‘Soulstice’], I threw in a standard, ‘The More I See You,’ and Bob brought in a couple of great tunes of his, ‘Overlap’ and ‘Straight Ahead.’ He’d previously recorded them, but we put our own take on them.
