Cap Gun Quartet

Roger Dannenberg - Trumpet

Christopher McDonald - Keys

Jeff Stringer - Electric Bass

Richard Strong - Drums

“Jeff Stringer is accustomed to occupying the gray area between jazz and rock. He's been mixing and matching the two musics for years, most notably as the thundering bassist of the late Water Shed 5tet. The Cap Gun Quartet might not qualify as his ‘newest’ project, as the group has been at it for over a year. But it continues avoiding the pigeonholes, with trumpeter Roger Dannenberg, keyboardist Victor Garzotto and drummer Richard Strong providing a solid foundation for their improvisations . . .”

-- Mike Shanley December 13 2002 Issue of Pittsburgh Pulp

“When Pittsburgh’s erstwhile defenders of the avant-jazz-rock keep, the Water Shed 5tet, called it quits, it provided Pittsburgh’s cultural map with a shake-up of Soviet Union separation proportions. It can be argued that none of the post-Water Shed groups that have sprung up in recent times rival their parent in balancing somewhat wide appeal with sheer musical inventiveness. But no one can argue with the vitality brought to the city by collaborations such as saxophonist Ben Opie’s OPEK, guitarist Daryl Fleming’s songwriting outlets, and bassist Jeff Stringer’s Cap Gun Quartet . . .”

“The Quartet . . . produces odd music that, not unlike Water Shed, isn’t off-putting in its mysteriousness.  Pieces such as ‘Cap Gun Running’ and ‘Dance of the Baby Head’ have a weirdo-pop, shambling-shuffle feel to them -- like Tom Waits conducting the Tijuana Brass. Others, such as ‘Heartbreaker,’ show Stringer to take his jazz with an ounce of Sabbath, while the group keeps a few straighter chorus-solo-chorus numbers in its repertoire to remind everyone that, while jokesters at heart, these players can show off the skills of the veterans they are.”

-- Justin Hopper May 15 2002 Issue of Pittsburgh City Paper