THE STRYKER / SLAGLE BAND - SPECIAL GUEST JOE LOVANO: Latest Outlook

The Stryker / Slagle Band - special guest Joe Lovano

Latest Outlook

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Second ZOHO release by the Stryker / Slagle Band - hard swinging, distinctive contemporary New York quartet jazz

tracks

1 Knew Hold
2 Latest Outlook
3 Bird Flew
4 Hartland
5 Dear Mr. Hicks
6 Self Portait in three Colors
7 Turning Point
8 In Just Time

notes

Latest Outlook - the new Stryker / Slagle Band CD, is a musical portrait of how we see the world in the present tense. After last year’s “Live at the Jazz Standard” (ZOHO ZM 200509), Steve and I had a batch of new music that we were ready to record. Bassist Jay Anderson had been recording some excellent sounding CD’s at his studio in New Paltz, NY, so we decided to head up there and put down some tracks. As it turns out, Jay is not only a great bassist, he is also a great engineer with (best of all) “musician’s ears”. Jay has played and recorded with Steve and I since the 80’s, so musically we’re like brothers.

On drums we recruited one of our favorite players: the one-and-only Billy Hart. Billy also goes back with us - he was the drummer on my first CD “First Strike” in 1988, which Steve was also on, and he has played and recorded with us in the years since. To make the date even more special, we invited our friend, tenor sax great Joe Lovano to join us for a couple of tunes. I’ve known Joe since I moved to New York City in the early 80’s when we used to play some loft jam sessions. Steve and Joe go back even further meeting at Berklee when they were 19 in the early 70’s. Later they played with Woody Herman, and The Carla Bley Band together, and nowadays Steve plays alto in the Joe Lovano Nonet, which has released 3 CD’s on Blue Note. Everyone was down, so after a few live gigs to work on the material, we headed up I-87 on a Monday in late June 2006, and proceeded to make some music….

The first thing we recorded was Knew Hold by Steve Slagle. It is not only a play on words, but it reflects the direction Steve and I like to follow musically. Billy Hart comes out kicking, and Steve and I were able to capture some of the guitar-sax interaction we like to explore.

Latest Outlook, the next Slagle original hits on another vibe the SSB likes to get into. Written with a 12-tone scale, it frees us to open up while still rooted in the groove. Dig the James Brown tip that Billy Hart gets into in his solo….

Bird Flew is my dedication to Charlie Parker based on his Confirmation changes. Listening to the playback, we all commented that Joe starts his solo like a prize fighter jabbing away. “Well - Billy Hart was throwing some jabs back!” Lovano joked.

Hartland is a piece I wrote for the session as a change of musical color. My acoustic steel-string is tuned open and Jay’s bass doubles the melody with Steve’s soprano sax. The title is two-fold capturing the vibe of the tune - and the joy of playing with Billy.

Slagle says of Dear Mr. Hicks: “John Hicks recently passed and this tune was a dedication to a friend. He was a generation older, a powerful New York pianist with a positive spirit, a major fixture on the scene who could play both in and out with ease. We spent time on the road with the Mingus Big Band as well as with Lovano’s Nonet. I tried to represent his musical personality starting with an elegy that leads into some hard swing.” You can hear Steve and Joe’s blend and history on this one.

Self-Portrait in Three Colors by Charles Mingus is a beautiful ballad that I remember taking off the record years ago when I was a teenager in Omaha. Steve knew it from when he played lead alto with the Mingus Big Band. I later learned it was the theme of John Cassavettes’ movie “Shadows”. A through-composed piece with two counterpoint lines, we tried to approach it in our own way.

Turning Point is a ¾ tune I wrote for the session with Steve and Billy in mind, and it features a great bass solo by Jay ATurning Point is a ¾ tune I wrote for the session with Steve and Billy in mind, and it features a great bass solo by Jay Anderson.

In Just Time closes out the CD in much the way we started, new/old, by rewriting a standard in the times we live in now - the present tense.

We’re glad to have documented this Latest Outlook in the continuing journey of The Stryker / Slagle Band, and we hope that with all the strife in the world today, that our music can be a positive force.

Dave Stryker



Guitarist Dave Stryker and Saxophonist Steve Slagle have been developing their own group sound for over 20 years. “Latest Outlook”, their third CD as The Stryker / Slagle Band, follows last year’s “Live at the Jazz Standard” (ZOHO Music). The latest edition of The SSB includes bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Billy Hart who have played with Dave and Steve off and on since the beginning.
Dave Stryker spent over 13 years with Stanley Turrentine, and also worked with Jack McDuff, Kevin Mahogany and Eliane Elias. He has 19 CD’s out as a leader, and has been a sideman on over 50 others.
Saxophonist Steve Slagle has released 10 CD’s as a leader, and performed as a sideman on countless others. He has played with Machito, Ray Barretto, Charlie Haden, Milton Nascimento, Carla Bley, The Mingus Big Band, and Joe Lovano’s Nonet.
Jay Anderson has played bass with Dave and Steve since the 80’s and is on several of their CD’s. He has 2 CD’s out as a leader and has also played with Michael Brecker, Joe Sample, Paul Bley, Bob Berg, Maria Schneider, and Frank Zappa.
Billy Hart is considered one of the greatest jazz drummers today. He has recorded 8 CD’s as a leader and has worked with everyone from Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Shirley Horn, Jimmy Smith, and Stan Getz, to McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock.

Produced by Dave Stryker and Steve Slagle. Co-Produced by Jay Anderson. Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Jay Anderson at Mountain Rest Studio, New Paltz, NY, June 6th, 2006. Cover photo: Jimmy Katz. Inside photos: George Kopp. Package design by 3 and Co., New York (www.threeandco.com). Executive Producer: Joachim “Jochen”Becker.


Steve Slagle plays Yanagisawa saxophones and endorses VanDoren reeds (DANSR Inc.)

Joe Lovano appears courtesy of Blue Note Records.

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