Rhythm In Every Guise
Evan Sherman: Not Just A Throwback
by David A. Orthmann
It is too easy to simply consign Evan Sherman to the throng of young drummers in the thrall of bebop masters such as Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Philly Joe Jones. Throughout Sidewalkin', Sherman's self-produced recording from 2021, and a recent live performance at the Madison Community Arts Center in Madison, NJ, these influences are perceptible, but they're only a small portion of the story. At the age of 29, Sherman has already made huge strides in realizing an exciting, ...
read moreNadav Snir-Zelniker: The Sound of Surprise
by David A. Orthmann
For the last dozen years or so I've frequented The Turning Point Café in Piermont, NY. I return to the small, informal venue time and time again to hear live jazz that's long on substance and short on pretense and ceremony. Though the town may seem removed from the hustle and bustle of jny: New York City, Piermont is only about twenty-five miles away. Tenor saxophonist John Richmond, the Monday night jazz series curator, draws from the Big Apple area ...
read moreJeff Hirshfield on Rich Perry's SteepleChase Recordings
by David A. Orthmann
"Some drummers get carried away and stop listening, maybe because we are doing four or five things at the same time. You want to see if things will work out or not, but you're not paying enough attention...We think we need to make everything happen, but it's not true: Everything is already happening, all you need to do is find your place." Albert “Tootie" Heath. Interview by Ethan Iverson in Do The Math, the bad plus blog and webzine.
read moreThe Ambidextrous Greg Bufford
by David A. Orthmann
Accompanied by his father, a boy approaches the drum kit, stops and stares, transfixed by the array of shapes and gleaming surfaces. Without a moment's hesitation, Greg Bufford, the man sitting on the drummer's throne, makes eye contact, smiles, and proffers an impromptu demonstration of articulate, swinging brush strokes. The sounds satisfy the boy's curiosity and capture the attention of a ring of people near the tiny, makeshift bandstand, who are patiently waiting for the band to hit.Tuesday ...
read moreShelly Manne: The Three & The Two
by David A. Orthmann
"When I'm playing, I think along melodic lines. For instance, I can go up as the notes go up. I may not hit them on the head, but the drums are a very sympathetic instrument and I can sometimes sound like I'm playing the melody without being right in tune. Naturally, I don't have the whole keyboard at my fingertips. I've only got four drums to work with, so I do the best I can with them to point out ...
read moreIntroducing Shawn Baltazor
by David A. Orthmann
Forty-five minutes prior to New Tricks' opening set, Shawn Baltazor began to tote his drum kit from a parking space down the street from Trumpets Jazz Club. Four drums were neatly stacked and secured to a rolling luggage carrier. An oversized sack contained bulky metal hardware and miscellaneous equipment. A cymbal bag with a shoulder strap completed the load. Despite the weight and mass, Baltazor cheerfully refused help on the fifty yard trek, explaining with a smile that it's all ...
read moreSteve Johns with the Bob DeVos Organ Trio
by David A. Orthmann
Bob DeVos' Organ Trio is a prime example of a band that possesses a recognizable sound yet resists facile categorization. Since 2005, along with organist Dan Kostelnik and drummer Steve Johns, the Northern New Jersey-based guitarist has played numerous live gigs and recorded two compact discs, Shifting Sands and Playing For Keeps, both released on Savant Records to wide acclaim. The group doesn't necessarily invite comparison to the fashionable, John Coltrane-influenced, Larry Young-Grant Green-Elvin Jones Trio from the mid-1960s. Likewise, ...
read moreJoe Corsello: Strong Second Act
by David A. Orthmann
In the notes to an unfinished novel, the celebrated 20th Century author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, there are no second acts in American lives." The vicissitudes of the lives of many jazz musicians, some of whom drop out of sight for years or even decades, are exceptions to Fitzgerald's often quoted dictum.The first act of Joe Corsello's career as a jazz drummer was in the 1970s, when he worked in a number of noteworthy mainstream ensembles, ranging from ...
read moreJason Brown
by David A. Orthmann
Six years ago I started writing the Rhythm In Every Guise" column as a reaction to an imbalance that had crept into my record reviews. In many instances I was writing lots about the drummer at the expense of everyone else on the recording. The column became a means of paying tribute to venerable drum set artists, as well as a way of spreading the word on lesser known trapsters.In a February 2009 review of Vitaly Golovnev's to ...
read moreEliot Zigmund
by David A. Orthmann
Recently I've been listening to Breeze, drummer Eliot Zigmund's 2008 release on the SteepleChase label. In part my interest in the recording stems from catching a couple of Zigmund's sideman gigs at The Turning Point Café in Piermont, NY. On those occasions I couldn't get a handle on all of the things that felt right about his playing. And describing some of the highlights in a live performance review didn't come close to capturing the essence of his style.
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