By Peter Karp

Ben Perowsky is a star among the many creative and versatile young drummers working in New York. Perowsky has been a regular at the Knitting Factory since the club’s opening, and has been an active drummer in the fertile, creative music scene that developed in association with the now-famous venue. New York’s music scene, always active and competitive, seems now to be experiencing a revival in creativity thanks to the musicians like Perowsky who work in what many call the “downtown” or Knitting Factory scene, and whom make an eclectic mix of music. Take as evidence the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, which open’s this week in New York. The festival is sponsored by a major corporation and showcases many of the musicians who have been making the Knitting Factory a Mecca for experimental music.

Ben Perowsky performed with four groups during the festival, including the Dave Douglas Quartet, and his own group the Ben Perowsky Trio featuring Scott Colley on Bass and Chris Speed on Tenor Sax. On July 8th and 9th, the trio will be at the Knitting Factory celebrating the release of their first recording, captured live at the Knitting Factory in 1998.

Having first earned a solid reputation as a member of Mike Stern’s band in the early 1990’s, Ben Perowsky was introduced to a wide audience through work that he did with the fusion guitar legend. With Stern, the drummer played and recorded straight ahead and fusion oriented material. Perowsky appears on four of Stern’s recordings including the most recent, unreleased as of today, which also features John Scofield and Bill Frisell. On many of these recordings, Perowsky’s playing is no less than brilliant. The drummer has a loose, driving approach that provides ample room for Stern to fill with his alarming technique. The drummer shows off his chops only at the most appropriate moments giving his playing a far more sensitive and dynamic feel than many of the fusion players around today.

During time he played with Mike Stern, Perowsky was working and recording with Lost Tribe, a group he co-founded which plays an open repertoire featuring influences from funk and hip-hop to rock. A true fusion outfit, Lost Tribe has released three albums to date. The latest release introduces a new version of the band for the first time without guitarist David Gilmore, who had been one of the band’s original members. Of the change in personnel, Perowsky says: “The press has been saying things, implying that there was some kind of break or something, and that the music is like some way to keep things going. We’ve been evolving like in any situation, and music on the most recent record is part of the evolution of the band, which happened over time, it wasn’t some sudden change.”

One of the highlights of the band’s career, in terms of visibility, was recording Walter Becker’s solo album, “11 Tracks of Whack”. While working on a record with Dave Kikoski, Perowsky met producer Walter Becker. Becker produced one of Lost Tribe’s records and subsequently invited the entire band to be his rhythm section on his solo album.

Ben Perowsky was raised in a household with his well-known tenor sax-playing father, Frank Perowsky. Growing up, Ben says “It was great, I used to play duets with him, which taught me a lot” Having such a musician for a father insured that Perowsky would be exposed to a steady diet of be-bop and traditional Jazz. As the Drummer puts it “I was more or less schooled in the be-bop stuff. I mean, I would go out to places like the Vanguard growing up. They knew me there, so I’d sort of sneak in and squat next to the drummer. It was pretty ridiculous. I also got to check out guys like Al Foster and Art Blakey all the time at a place near where I grew up.”

Perowsky’s intensive learning in Jazz does not, in the drummer’s eyes, mean that other music is less of a challenge. “A lot of people seem to think that if you get the be-bop thing together, than you can do anything. I don't really believe in that. I mean, you might be more convincing, or comfortable in certain settings, but if I want to play in a punk band, I have to listen to punk and play it all the time. Playing the straight-ahead is great, and it teaches you a lot, but it doesn’t mean you can play anything. Very few jazz musicians are good at playing rock and that's for a reason. On the other hand, I can’t really do the be-bop thing authentically. You have to immerse yourself in it to do it right, it’s a full-time commitment, and that’s not what I do, although I’m working on it more these days.” Given these comments, what Perowsky is doing now is all the more impressive.

While playing with Mike Stern or Walter Becker is the pinnacle for some players, Perowsky has continuously striven to evolve as a musician. Playing with Stern feels to Perowsky as if it happened “a lifetime ago”. The busy drummer now finds himself focusing “not really on fusion so much. I mean, if fusion is a meeting of electronics and Jazz. Now I’m really trying to focus on those two things, but separately. I’m trying to play acoustic jazz, some be-bop stuff, but also free jazz too, and the electronic stuff”. Add to that list song oriented pop-music, and you’ve got Perowsky’s current schedule.

In the electronics department, Perowsky has been playing regularly with the group Liminal, which makes what the drummer describes as “interactive, improvisational electronic music, with lots of samples and live drumset playing”. Perowsky has played on one of Liminal’s recordings “Pre-Set”, an album that features many notable musicians from the “Downtown” scene. The drummer has also been playing straight-ahead gigs around town with his father, as well as gigs with the Ben Perowsky Trio. For some musicians this variety would be impossible, but Perowsky is a drummer that truly can do it all.

In 1998 he appeared on Dave Douglas’ “The Magic Triangle”, Lost Tribe’s “Many Lifetimes”, the Whistling Hangmen “Barhopping”, and an album with Klezmer great Giora Friedman. All of this came on the heels of stints with Elysian Fields, a pop-oriented rock group. In the near future we should be hearing Ben on a release by Salif Keita. That’s Be-Bop, Free jazz, Fusion, Pop, Electronica, Klezmer and Afro-Pop. Few musicians are interested in such variety, much less capable of it but Ben Perowsky is, which is why he is one of the most exciting and visible drummers working in New York.