DAVE STRYKER, Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies

Never met the legendary (and crazily prolific!) guitarist Dave Stryker, but with six reviews of his albums (all of which required deep, pleasurable immersions) over the years, it’s as if we’re in a pretty awesome, fruitful creative relationship. In my writeup about his 2022 album As We Are, it was noteworthy that he called it his “dream project” because he loved the way his supple guitar tones were embraced by a lush string quartet. The ever-inventive, constantly curious jazz dynamo takes that concept on a wildly adventurous journey to the outer limits on his ambitious, cleverly titled masterwork Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies.

The alternately floating, caressing and soaring strings surrounding and animating Stryker and his killer quartet (Xavier Davis on piano and Rhodes, Jeremy Allen on acoustic and electric bass and longtime drummer McClenty Hunter) come via a 30-piece studio orchestra (including a 17 piece string section) arranged and conducted by Brent Wallarab, co-leader of the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra for three decades.

Beyond Stryker’s always thoughtful, graceful, soulful and playfully swinging guitar solos, these vibrant, expansive arrangements also have openings for grand improvisational  moments by stellar guests like Sara Caswell, who adds her violin fire to an energetic swirl through Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” and a subtle melancholy to Ellington’s “Low Key”; alto saxophonist Greg Ward, capturing the moody coolness of 70’s NYC on “Taxi Driver” and a bluesy crescendo to “Flirtibird”; and horn masters, trombonists Jim Pugh (adding both whimsy and emotional depth to “Moonglow”) and flugelhornist Mark Buselli (“Flirtibird”). In line with Stryker’s retro-minded Eight Track series, he naturally brings a snappy hipster grittiness to “Theme From Shaft.”

After that, the choices of material really define the journey, and most of these (barring the jazz standards, “Cinema Paradiso” and perhaps the closer “Edelweiss”) are mostly coolly obscure pieces from popular films of yesteryear we probably hadn’t thought of in a while. Hence, everything sounds fun, majestic and fresh. Stryker may still think of As We are as his dream project, but it’s likely that the dynamic experience of making Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies may just take the #1 spot in his musical heart.