DAVE STRYKER QUARTET
When Dave Stryker was ten years old, he was inspired by the Beatles to start playing guitar. His interest was rock and roll until he heard the albums My Favorite Things by John Coltrane and Beyond the Blue Horizon by George Benson. By seventeen, he was a jazz guitarist in Omaha. In 1978 he moved to Los Angeles where he took lessons from another Omaha native, Billy Rogers, and met organist Jack McDuff. After moving to New York City, he toured with McDuff in 1984–5, then spent ten years with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.
Stryker formed a band with Steve Slagle and a trio with Jared Gold and Tony Reedus (later McClenty Hunter and Billy Hart). He worked with the late Kevin Mahogany as sideman, composer, and arranger, appeared with him at Carnegie Hall, and toured with him in Europe and Japan. He has also worked with Eliane Elias, Javon Jackson, and Andy LaVerne.
He teaches jazz guitar at Indiana University and Montclair State University and at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop, the Litchfield Jazz Camp, and the Veneto/New School Workshop in Italy.
In 2018 Stryker began teaching jazz guitar online through the ArtistWorks music education website.
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BERTHA HOPE QUARTET
Pianist Bertha Hope pays tribute to her late first husband with a Salute to Elmo Hope’s Centennial.
Hope-Booker started playing professionally in Johnny Otis’s band as well as local trios. In 1958, Hope-Booker met Elmo Hope who was touring with Sonny Rollins. Hope-Booker married Elmo in 1960 and the following year they moved to New York City.
Together they recorded an album, Hope-Full, for Riverside which featured Hope-Booker on three songs. After Elmo’s death in 1967, Hope-Booker gave up her music career despite being offered a place in Art Blakey’s band.
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RODNEY JONES QUARTET
Guitarist Rodney Jones has worked with Jaki Byard, Chico Hamilton, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lena Horne and as a bandleader. He is cited as a jazz guitarist who uses modern quartal harmony. Jones is a faculty member at Juilliard.
The Quartet features Ron Blake, Lonnie Plaxico and Carl Allen
Showtimes: 7:00pm | 9:30pm
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WILLIE JONES III QUINTET
Jazz drummer Willie Jones III has played, toured, and recorded with Horace Silver, Roy Hargrove, Hank Jones, Cedar Walton, and Herbie Hancock. He played on Arturo Sandoval’s Grammy-winning 1998 album Hot House.
Jones was one of the founding members of the band Black Note in 1990. Members of this ensemble included, at various times, Ark Sano, Eric Reed, Gilbert Castellanos, James Mahone, Kenneth Crouch, Mark Shelby, and Richard E. Grant. They released several albums.
In 1991, Jones began studying at the California Institute of the Arts, where he took drum lessons from Albert “Tootie” Heath. Jones played with Milt Jackson in 1994, and toured with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval from 1994 to 1998.
Jones was based in Los Angeles until he moved to New York in 1997. He played in trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s quintet from 1998 to 2006.
In 2000, Jones founded an independent jazz label, WJ3 Records. He has regularly played with pianist Eric Reed, as the drummer for Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center, and has several CDs released as a leader on his own label, playing hard bop and swing.
Jones has taught at Northwestern University since 2010.
Showtimes: 7:00pm | 9:30pm
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BRIA SKONBERG
Skonberg was the leader of Bria’s Hot Five and The Big Bang Jazz Band. She also performed with Canadian jazz veteran Dal Richards and his Orchestra in concert and on recordings.
Skonberg has appeared as a band leader and guest artist at jazz festivals in North America, Europe, China and Japan. She moved to New York City in 2010. She was a co-founder of the New York Hot Jazz Festival.
Skonberg has performed with Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, and Wycliffe Gordon. Also with Shaye Cohn.
In 2017 Skonberg won the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, for her crowd-funded album Bria.
Showtimes: 7:00pm | 9:30pm
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