A Home for the Hammond

[Dr. Rat]

From the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger

BY ZAN STEWART

Star-Ledger Staff

In the '50s, '60s and '70s, Newark was a haven for Hammond B3 organ groups,

when notables such as the blues-minded Jimmy McGriff, the hard-cooking

Charles Earland or the innovative Larry Young could be found in such rooms

as the Key Club and Sparky Jay's.

Though that once-thriving Newark organ scene has all but disappeared,

interest in the Hammond has not. The Tuesday jam at the Crossroads in

Garwood boasts an organ, and organ bands can be heard now and then at

Trumpets in Montclair, the Cornerstone in Metuchen and Bula in Newton. But

the instrument's chief Garden State home is Cecil's Jazz Club in West

Orange.

At Cecil's, the organists include Adam Scone, who plays Sundays; Jared Gold,

part of alto saxophonist Bruce Williams' jam session band on Tuesdays; and

Radam Schwartz, a co-leader of the Crossroads jam who holds forth on

Wednesdays. Occasionally, Cecil's will host an organ group on the weekends,

as it did on Friday, when Exit 13 appeared.

The splendid Exit 13 is co-led by Sylvia Cuenca, a powerhouse drummer who

has worked with Clark Terry for over a decade, and Jersey City-based

organist Kyle Koehler, a rising star on the Hammond. West Orange guitarist

Dave Stryker -- who joined his partners on their 2003, self-titled CD on

Etoile Records -- fleshes out the trio.

One of Exit 13's strongest aspects is that it can dig as deeply into pure,

driving jazz as it can into the shake-your-body party mood that an organ

trio is known for. At Cecil's, where Stryker served as de facto leader,

calling tunes and setting tempos, both aspects were explored, sometimes in

the same tune.

Take the opening "Miss C's Shuffle," a back-beat blues. Here Stryker, using

his thumb on his strings to coax forth a honey-colored sound, mixed lines

that had a down-home, bluesy flavor with those that flowed in a bebop

manner. Koehler, whose sound can be rich and fat like the dynamic organist

Jimmy Smith but more often favors the dry, dreamy tones concocted by Young,

also shifted his stance, going from brief, punchy thoughts to waves of

crying tones to ideas that bordered on abstraction. All the while, Cuenca

made her beat fluid, changing the color of her sound with varying hits on

cymbals and drums.

Similarly approached was "Speak Low," where altoist Williams guested with

lines that ranged from sweet to edgy. Stryker unleashed undulating thoughts

that often had a blues swagger, and Koehler maintained a hard swing via

seemingly hollered notes, and others that careened purposefully. Cuenca

again supplied essential rhythmic heat.

On "Our Miss Brooks," where Stryker issued statements that recalled Jimi

Hendrix or Muddy Waters, and the bouncy "More Today Than Yesterday," the

band's "let's party" groove was celebrated.

Exit 13 can be heard on April 15 at the Dancing Goat Cafÿ in South Orange

and on April 17 at the Cape May Jazz Festival. Additionally, Cuenca and

Koehler will play with guitarist Ed Cherry on April 9 at Bula

(973-579-7338). Stryker, in non-organ settings, also plays Bula on April 2

and 23, and appears with his Stryker-Slagle Band on March0 26-27 at Trumpets

(973-744-2600). For information on organ groups at Cecil's, call (973)

736-4800.

Edited March 16, 2004 by Dr. Rat