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Reggie Nicholson
The instantly recognizable style and sound of Reggie Nicholson has elevated him to one of the most distinctive, inventive and inspirational drummer/percussionist of his generation; a formidable technician, but one who uses his considerable skills constructively and with infinite taste.
Born in Chicago, his drum concept fitted perfectly the needs of many extraordinary Chicago musicians. Nicholson first gained a reputation as a drummer and percussionist in his hometown of Chicago. A Southside native, he’s a graduate of Cornell Elementary, where he was playing drums for the “Area A Band” of exceptional music students and Hirsch High School, as a concert band percussionist. He then made good use of a 4-year music scholarship to Chicago State University’s percussion program. During his early days before moving to NYC, Nicholson worked around Chicago with many great musicians, and performed regularly at the famous South side organ club, The Other Place. An active member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1979, Nicholson has absorbed the organization's musical influences to compose and improvise original music.
Nicholson has performed and recorded with a wide variety of jazz and new music luminaries such as Jon Logan, Larry Frazier, Mendai, Vince Willis, Phil Cohran, Dewey Redman, James Spaulding, Henry Threadgill, Amina Claudine Myers, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ernest Dawkins, Leroy Jenkins, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Hanah Jon Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Sam Newsome, Myra Melford, Wilber Morris, Elektra Kurtis, Billy Bang, Butch Morris, Yuko Fujiyama, Oliver Lake, Fay Victor, Roy Campbell, just to name a few. In addition, Reggie has toured throughout Europe and Japan.
As a composer, he was nominated twice for the Cal Arts Composition Award in 1993/1994, and his compositions were performed throughout NYC including concerts for Roulette, Interpretations, Vision Festival, and the AACM.
Nicholson’s recordings, which have highlighted his compositions, are “Unnecessary Noise Allowed (1997)” features his quintet, The Reggie Nicholson Concept. “Percussion Peace”(2005) is a solo recording experimenting with electronics and percussion instruments. In 2007, the premier of “Timbre Suite” (Tone Colors) was recorded for percussion ensemble. ”Surreal Feel”(2008) shows the maturity and growth of his composing skills with music for brass instruments and percussion.
“Mettle” (2018) features his second solo recording for percussion. His latest recording, “No Preservatives Added” (2020), features new compositions for percussion ensemble.
Currently, Nicholson is continuing to explore the aesthetics of his musical ideas.
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Ivo Perelman: Molten Gold
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman is a restless innovator, and his recorded output is as inventive as it is prolific. On the exhilarating Molten Gold he explores a new sonic texture by playing with the equally idiosyncratic trombonist Ray Anderson. In addition to Anderson, the quartet includes another Chicago native, drummer Reggie Nicholson who developed his unique sound with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Frequent Perelman collaborator, guitarist Joe Morris, here playing double bass, completes the ensemble. The ...
read moreIvo Perelman: Molten Gold
by Mike Jurkovic
A tactile, umbilical cord tension binds you to the slithery movements advanced on Molten Gold, the umpteenth in a slew of hard-core free jazz releases, one of them being the twelve disc set Reed Rapture In Brooklyn (Mahakala, 2022), from the generative mind and horn of saxophonist Ivo Perelman. Recorded at ParkWest Studio by Jim Clouse, Perelman, in full form and fever, assembles fellow rogues trombonist Ray Anderson, bassist Joe Morris and drummer Reggie Nicholson for over eighty minutes of ...
read moreIvo Perelman / Ray Anderson / Joe Morris / Reggie Nicholson: Molten Gold
by Chris May
Lovingly described by one critic as a leather-lunged monster," reviews of saxophonist Ivo Perelman's albums typically attract words such as honking, squawking, squealing and apocalyptic. Perelman is not interested in the current vogue for creating safe spaces. He is not the sort of free-improv player one would, in the normal course of things, recommend to AAJers wanting to dip a neophyte toe in the genre. But Molten Gold is recommended. And not just to newbies, but to ...
read moreReggie Nicholson: No Preservatives Added
by Howard Mandel
From cosmic gong signaling it's Time to Reset" to bluesy combo asking that we Say It Ain't So," Reggie Nicholson's Percussion Concept on No Preservatives Added makes music of real life and sonic imagination. Beats, breathes, cycles, syncopations and synchronizations--dances, stances, gestures, texturesrhythmic physicality and melodic extrapolation--expressive, engaging improvisations of a masterful team, that proceed by thought, feeling, and especially ear to unexpected places. These are ingredients of composer-percussionist Nicholson's seventh intriguing, original, self-produced album, which without artificiality seems timely ...
read moreReggie Nicholson: Timbre Suite & Surreal Feel
by Francis Lo Kee
Reggie Nicholson Timbre Suite Abstract 2008 Reggie NicholsonSurreal FeelAbstract2009 Timbre Suite is a six-movement composition that focuses on the percussion instruments and the sound-color" of which those instruments are capable. The suite and the titles of its movements ("Purple," Green," etc.) are a little play on words and indeed the music has a playful ...
read more"Reggie Nicholson creating exquisite splashes of color and unmetered cascades on the drums." Chicago Tribune
"Drummer Reggie Nicholson not only provided the glue that held the various moods together, but soloed with the same purpose and tonal consciousness as the front line." LA Times
“Nicholson's underpinning leads perfectly to a spectacular tenor solo,” AllAboutJazz
“Reggie has done a great job of providing superb arrangements for the four horns, each ensemble piece radiates with warmth and thoughtful charts. 'Surreal Feel' is thoughtfully conceived and consistently well-played with a warm, glowing sound that feels just right.” - Downtown Music Gallery NYC