Kerry Strayer Quartet - Play It Where It Lays

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:39
Size: 144,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:28)  1. 3625 Central
(7:26)  2. Blues O'Mighty
(7:24)  3. Perfectly Frank
(6:00)  4. Jammin' At The Kirk
(7:15)  5. Funk In Deep Freeze
(5:49)  6. Mentor
(5:27)  7. All Too Soon
(6:11)  8. Friends Again
(6:00)  9. Play It Where It Lays
(5:36) 10. Bertha The Dragoness

A baritone saxophonist heavily indebted to Gerry Mulligan, Kerry Strayer tends to favor a soloing style that sticks close to the original melody and phrasing that emphasizes the instrument's buzzy lower register. Play It Where It Lays is an album of standards and originals the Kansas City-based saxophonist recorded with his standard rhythm section and his friend and mentor, Gary Foster, on alto and tenor. Strayer was one of Foster's students at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music in the mid-'80s, and both saxophonists have a similarly measured, cerebral playing style that keeps the album from becoming just a blowing session. 

The set list features some well-chosen tunes from the catalogs of Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, and Hank Mobley, and Strayer is the sort of "old wine, new bottles" jazz performer who is careful to point out in his liner notes what familiar chord changes he's nicking on the handful of Strayer and Foster originals. As a result, there's an air of respectful academia about Play It Where It Lays that's both a blessing and a curse: as both a writer and a soloist, Strayer is so reverential to the giants of jazz past that there's a certain lack of personality here. By the end of Play It Where It Lays, the listener is struck by the taste and the tastefulness of the players, but is left with little sense of who they really are. ~ Stewart Mason  http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7375096&style=music&fulldesc=T
 

Personnel: Kerry Strayer (baritone saxophone); Paul "Scooby" Smith, Frank Mantooth (piano); Todd Strait (drums).

Play It Where It Lays

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Kerry Strayer - In A Mellotone

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:56
Size: 167,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:33)  1. Taking A Chance On Love
(3:51)  2. If I Had You
(4:35)  3. Tangerine
(2:26)  4. Once In A While
(4:47)  5. Body And Soul
(8:19)  6. Cantelope Island
(6:18)  7. Jive At Five
(5:40)  8. St. Louis Blues
(6:45)  9. In A Mellotone
(5:21) 10. Tenderly
(4:33) 11. Bernie's Tune
(7:16) 12. Just Squeeze Me
(5:32) 13. Harlem Nocturne
(2:53) 14. Poor Butterfly

Kerry Strayer was born and raised in Fairbury, Nebraska and attended Doane College in Crete, Nebraska where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1982 he moved to Kansas City to study saxophone with Tim Timmons at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, earning a Master of Music degree in Saxophone Performance in 1985. Since that time Kerry has been active as a saxophonist, recording artist, band leader, composer, arranger, adjudicator and private instructor. He currently leads five performing groups and teaches privately from his home. Kerry has released six recordings including the critically acclaimed Jeru Blue, featuring Randy Brecker, and Mentor, with Gary Foster. His latest releases are The Kerry Strayer Orchestra, Christmas in Kansas City: Music From the Plaza Lighting Ceremony and The Kerry Strayer Quartet featuring Gary Foster: Play It Where It Lays.  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kerrystrayer5

In A Mellotone

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