Guitar and Bass Reviews featuring Josh Achiron

These are short reviews of recent guitar or bass-led albums.

Dave Stryker
Blue Fire—The Van Gelder Session
Strikezone Records
2026

Guitarist Dave Stryker fulfilled a long-time dream by recording this album with his longstanding organ trio at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The studio enhances everyone's sound. Drummer McClenty Hunter's cymbal work really sizzles and Jared Gold's organ is a strong presence whether brooding in the background or flying on a solo. the quiet nuance of Stryker's playing and the rustle of Hunter's brush work is captured on slower tracks like "Waiting For Ruby" and "The Folks Who Live on the Hill." The easy shuffle of the title track and the roller coaster push of "Blue Fire" show off how well everyone fits together, and "Every Dark St. " gives the band time to sizzle on a swaying blues groove. This is an excellent set of organ trio music with the Van Gelder atmosphere and depth palpable from the first note.

Joshua Achiron
Climbing
Calligram
2026

Moving into more modern guitar sounds, Joshua Achiron can play in a tight, pinched style, strum with a dreamy ambient flow, or do anything in between. On this album he shares lead duties with tenor saxophonist Geof Bradfield. He sometimes plays in unison with the sax and sometimes works intricate complimentary lines to it that explode and whine in his solo breaks. He bounces intensely over the splashy rhythm of "Mean Machine" and weaves a misty background to Bradfield's wanderings on "The Pain That Hurts." Bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall make an excellent and versatile rhythm section handling everything from the wriggling funk of "Troubles Become Triumphs" to the solemn dignity of "The Only Way is Through" expertly.

Most of the tracks here last just long enough to make a statement but at the end, there is a 12-minute take of Duke Ellington's "Take the Coltrane" where everyone really goes to work. Here Bradfield's tenor burns and Achiron chops and twirls into a feast of liquid blues grooving as Sommers and Hall joyously maintain the beat.

Matt Dwonszyk
Live at the Sidedoor
Self-Produced
2026

There is nothing subtle about this one. This Hartford, CT quintet, led by bassist Matt Dwonszyk, is captured live at The Side Door Jazz Club with a powerful set that explodes with hard bop crispness and power. The horn players, trumpeter Josh Bruneau and tenor saxophonist Matt Knoegel, are fiery, the pianist, Taber Gable, comps with authority and the rhythm section, Dwonszyk and drummer Jonathan Barber, keep everything tight and driving. The band dances on a calypso rhythm in "Mucho Fernet," swaggers like the Jazz Messengers on "Billy's Den" and "Alexandre the Great," plays a graceful waltz on "White Butterfly" and traces a tender ballad on "Ms. Smith." The leader even contributes a brief but eloquent solo version of "Gloomy Sunday." This is a great jazz set from start to finish.

Shawn Lovato
Biotic
Endectomorph
2026

Bassist Shawn Lovato writes all the compositions and leads this trio that also includes tenor sax and drums. Instead of the usual horn-plus-rhythm hierarchy, this trio has the three instruments often running along parallel tracks. Ingrid Laubrock's tenor moans on "Inexorable" as Lovato's bass slowly creeps and Henry Mermer's drums drop in random clicks. On "Frequent Flyer" Lovato's bass gallops and Laubrock plays a low singing melody while on "One Step From Anything Easy" the two roll and vibrate together with ever-increasing force. "Patience and Hydration" has all three players careening and leaping together while Lovato's hopping plucks on "Diry Doesn't Burn" actually lead into a low-slung bluesy groove when the tenor and drums come in. For all its randomness and abrasiveness, there is a feeling of common purpose to this music that makes it compelling.

Tracks and Personnel

Blue Fire—The Van Gelder Session

Tracks: Van Gelder's Place; Blue Fire; The Fool on the Hill; Dexterity; Waiting for Ruby; Back and Forth; The Folk Who Live on the Hill; Every Dark St.; Summer Night.

Personnel: Dave Stryker: guitar; Jared Gold: organ; McClenty Hunter; drums.

Climbing

Tracks: Troubles Become Triumphs; The Papaya King; The Only Way Is Through; Climbing; Mean Machine; The Pain That Hurts; The Pain That Alters, Take the Coltrane.

Personnel: Joshua Achiron: guitar; Geof Bradfield: tenor saxophone; Clark Sommers: acoustic bass; Dana Hall: drums, cymbals.

Live at the Sidedoor

Tracks: Morning Dreams; Frederiksplein; Stage Dive; Mucho Fernet; Gloomy Sunday; Ms. Smith; Billy's Den; White Butterfly; Alexandre the Great; Mode for Rene.

Personnel: Matt Dwonsyzk: bass; Matt Knoegel: tenor; Josh Bruneau: trumpet; Jonathan Barber: drums; Taber Gable: piano.

Biotic

Tracks: Spling; Frequent Flyer; One Step From Anything Easy; Patience and Hydration; Inexorable; Dirt Doesn't Burn; Parachute Bloom.

Personnel: Shawn Lovato: bass; Ingrid Laubrock: tenor saxophone; Henry Mermer: drums.