The guitarist Dave Stryker will be in residence at UVM Nov. 16-18. On his first day Stryker will participate in student rehearsals. On Nov. 18, Stryker reprises his sold-out 2015 appearance with the UVM Jazz Ensemble performing an all-new repertoire arranged and composed by Bob Mintzer in the unusual format of big band featuring guitar. Originally commissioned by the WDR band in Germany and recently released on the album Blue Soul, this music’s performance at UVM will be one of the first times it has been heard in the U.S. The UVM group, directed by Alex Stewart, began working on this music nearly two years ago and the concert, originally planned for April 2020, has been postponed twice since the pandemic struck.

Stryker is one of the busiest jazz guitarists on the scene having toured with organist Brother Jack McDuff, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, and many others. For most of the 21st century he has been leading his own groups.  A perennial favorite in the jazz polls, Stryker has recorded over 30 albums as a leader and performed as a sideman on dozens of others. Blue Soul hit #1 for three weeks on the JazzWeek Radio chart, and stayed on the charts for 25 weeks. His newest effort, which will be released in January, features John Patitucci, Brian Blade, Julian Shore and a string quartet!

Besides their originals, the concert will feature Stryker and Mintzer’s creative interpretations of songs by Prince, Marvin Gaye, and Glenn Campbell.

The performance will take place on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the newly renovated and acoustically reengineered UVM Recital Hall in the Southwick Music Building, Redstone Campus. Admission is free.

Jazz Clinic, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 3 p.m., UVM Recital Hall

Expanding Your Blues Vocabulary: From Bird’s Blues to Modal

In this clinic, which is free and open to the public, Stryker explains and demonstrates different strategies you can use to open up some ideas to make your blues sound more interesting and modern. By explaining different substitute chord changes and melodic phrases that work over them, new improvisational and compositional ideas can be implemented. No registration is needed.