d.b. shrier quartet - d.b. shrier emerges

2023 release

Dave (D.B.) Shrier was active in the Philadelphia jazz scene of the 1960s. Sadly, his only studio-recorded work was a 1967 private press LP release, D.B. Shrier Emerges by the D.B. Shrier Quartet, on Alfa Records. But, as always, there is far more to the story.

While attending the University of Pennsylvania in the 1959, Alan Sukoenig heard jazz emanating from a rehearsal room adjacent to the cafeteria. Sukoenig walked in during a jam session tenor sax player Shrier was having and the two soon became friends, bonding over their shared love of music. A few years later, Shrier recorded soon-to-be Philly legend Hasaan Ibn Ali performing. Shrier let Sukoenig, another fan of Hasaan’s work, make a copy.

Fast forward a few decades, as Sukoenig was developing a project which would become 2021’s Retrospect In Retirement Of Delay: The Solo Recordings (for which Sukoenig would receive an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his liner notes), Alan contacted Dave about that original source tape. They had both temporarily forgotten that it had been stolen from Shrier’s apartment in 1965. The fascinating story of its acquisition the search for the non-existent tape is outlined in D.B. Shrier Emerges’ liner notes, but one major development in that search was the finding the original tapes for D.B. Shrier Emerges, and other Shrier Quartet recordings.

Now, the Shrier Quartet material has been collected on the expanded reissue of D.B. Shrier Emerges—performed by D.B. Shrier (tenor saxophone), Mike Michaels (piano), Tyrone Brown (bass), and William Roye (drums).

Produced for Release by Sukoenig and Grammy®-winner Cheryl Pawelski (who worked together on both Retrospect In Retirement Of Delay and Metaphysics from Hasaan Ibn Ali), D.B. Shrier Emerges also features restoration and Mastering from Grammy®-winning engineer, Michael Graves.

As Sukoenig says in his closing of the notes: “In 1967, D.B. Shrier emerged. Now, in 2023, he’s re-emerging, to a new and wider audience. It’s a cause for celebration that such wonderful music is back in circulation.”