Groove Street

Groove Street marks the first time guitarist Dave Strykers trio and saxophonist Bob Mintzer have recorded together. Theyve toured together some and collaborated on 2020s wonderful Blue Soul, where Mintzer arranged and conducted the WDR Big Band. Given touring commitments, this quartet had to record the day before beginning a week-long stand at Birdland. Strykers trio with organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter has been together for 15 years. They are canny in their shared ability to predict and respond to one another. Mintzer -- a lightning-quick study for decades -- has a deep familiarity with Strykers music and has toured with him. The program here contains three tunes by the guitarist, a pair from Mintzer, one from Gold, and three covers. The mood is upbeat, the grooves breezy. The title-track opener weds hard bop and soul-jazz, with the guitarist and saxophonist stating the vampy head. Strykers fingerpopping solo evolves into a Wes Montgomery-esque chordal interlude that underscores Golds B-3 break. Mintzers "Overlap" is straight-ahead hard bop, with excellent interplay between the saxophonist and Gold. Strykers solo fires with arpeggiatic intensity. His "Summit" is a quartet showcase, melding post- and hard bop in a vigorous arrangement incorporating short, killer solos from everyone. The reading of Wayne Shorters ballad "Infant Eyes" is a highlight. The quartet takes liberties with tempo and harmonic emphasis, underscoring the melodys emotional poignancy. The tempo is a shade faster during the first three minutes; Mintzer and Stryker faithfully twin on the lyric head as Gold offers swelling changes atop Hunters unhurried shuffle. The jam ratchets to midtempo driven by B-3 chord swells and a funky bassline. Mintzer re-enters with the modal blues, introducing Strykers elegant yet labyrinthine solo before the band comes back together. Golds "Soulstice" is a soul-jazz tune with gorgeous frontline work from Stryker and Mintzer before his B-3 solo winds into a different -- but no less swinging -- musical dimension. Eddie Harris funky classic "Cold Duck Time" is, as expected, rendered with grit and grease. Its punchy, uptempo vamp swings like mad. Strykers guitar punctuates, questions, and espouses his faith in the almighty groove during his solo. Mintzers circular statement of the head evolves lyrically and phraseologically, as the rhythm sections graft it onto their attack during his solo. Strykers "Code Blue" is a hard bop number with wonderfully applied rhythmic syncopation and a driving guitar solo. Harry Warrens "The More I See You" is delivered atop a soulful backbeat and Mintzers elegant approach to the melody before Stryker enters. Closer "Straight Ahead," by the saxophonist, is aptly titled; bluesy hard bop meets tight, funky swing, carrying out this excellent album. Groove Street offers communicative familiarity between trio and saxophonist sure, but its more than that: the artists near instinctive mutual support with their ensemble and soloists allows them contextual chances they might not otherwise take. All killer, no filler. ~ Thom Jurek