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Gene Lake

An all around drummer who cut his teeth on Midwestern funk and avant-garde jazz, Gene Lake embodies the contradictions of modern music. His resume reflects his passion for the great funk icons of the 1970s and 1980s such as Parliament/Funkadelic and the Time, as well as his longstanding ties to the jazz world. Gene Lake has been playing for almost 10 years with a stunningly diverse range of artists: from r&b group Surface in the 1980s to the "new wave" of r&b acts such as Me'shell NdegeOcello, Maxwell, and D'Angelo in the 1990s; from jazz innovators Steve Coleman and Henry Threadgill, to fusion legends Joe Zawinul and Marcus Miller; from jazz/rap group Opus Akoben to acts that defy categorization, such as the wildly original rock/funk/jazz fusion group Screaming Headless Torsos.

Gene Lake was born in St. Louis, MO on January 12th, 1966, and lived there--with brief period of residence in Paris--until 14, when he moved to New York city and attended the High School of Music and Arts. From there he moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music.

Gene Lake's early childhood exposure to creative institutions as the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis is reflected in his constant desire to seek out the musically innovative and adventurous, even as he remains grounded in the basics of funk. Gene Lake credits various drummers with influencing his musical style, from Diamond (of the Ohio Players) to Omar Hakim (of Weather Report). In future he plans to spend more time writing music that synthesizes and transforms the many influences from which he emerged.

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Album Review

Jean-Paul Bourelly: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

Read "Black Lives - From Generation to Generation" reviewed by Vic Albani


Doppio CD o doppio vinile prodotto in HI-Res e con packaging di lusso dalla Jammin'colorS, agenzia per artisti jazz, world, funk, alternativi, hip-hop, electro e sperimentali nonché etichetta indipendente. Il lavoro che ha pubblicato in tanta pompa magna è un ampio collage di musica nera realizzato da 25 musicisti africani, caraibici e afroamericani guidati dalla visione creativa di Stefany Calembert (compagna del bassista jazz Reggie Washington) e produttrice estemporanea dell'etichetta belga. A tutti è stato chiesto di comporre ...

11
Album Review

Various Artists: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

Read "Black Lives - From Generation to Generation" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Indeed, African Americans are the architects of several musical formations, hearkening back to Scott Joplin's development of 'ragged' rhythms i.e., Ragtime, along with blues, funk, jazz, and other genres, often evolving into various tangents and offshoots. And on this comprehensively entertaining set produced by Belgian Stefany Calembert with assistance from her husband and acclaimed bassist Reggie Washington, they righteously bestow Black Music as a “source of moral truth and potent weapon against racism." Numerous stars such as saxophonist ...

257
Album Review

Dave Douglas and Keystone: Moonshine

Read "Moonshine" reviewed by Matthew Miller


Dave Douglas is not your typical iconoclast. The progressive trumpeter--a mainstay of John Zorn's Masada and more typically avant-garde groups--favors an understated upheaval in his efforts as a leader, courting, in the words of writer Andy Battaglia “tradition and progression without puzzling over the difference." On Moonshine, his second album with Keystone, a sextet featuring Marcus Strickland (saxophone), Adam Benjamin (Fender Rhodes), Brad Jones (bass), Gene Lake (drums) and DJ Olive (turntables and laptop), Douglas once again focuses his modernist ...

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Album Review

Dave Douglas & Keystone: Moonshine

Read "Moonshine" reviewed by Mark F. Turner


As one of jazz's most omnivorous thinkers, trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas continues to explore ideas outside of the norm. Moonshine is a continuation with Keystone--an electric sextet that includes Marcus Strickland (saxophones), Adam Benjamin (Fender Rhodes), Brad Jones (bass), Gene Lake (drums), and DJ Olive (turntables)--exploring in music, the life and art of 1920s silent film actor/director Roscoe “Fatty" Arbuckle, whose career was abruptly ended when he was falsely accused of murder. Whether or not Douglas' odd juxtaposition ...

486
Album Review

Dave Douglas & Keystone: Moonshine

Read "Moonshine" reviewed by John Kelman


It's unlikely that Dave Douglas expected the Grammy-nominated Keystone (Greenleaf Music, 2005) to turn into an ongoing project, but as a parallel to his quintet of the past half decade, the trumpeter has forged a distinct entity with the group he now calls Keystone. This sextet shares some commonality with the quintet responsible for Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf, 2006), but there are just as many differences, if not more. Moonshine affirms that Keystone is a band with a very different ...

489
Album Review

Dave Douglas: Keystone Live in Sweden

Read "Keystone Live in Sweden" reviewed by John Kelman


In the early days of silent film, scores were played live, most often by a single musician--simplifying the response to the on-screen activities. In recent years artists like guitarist Bill Frisell and clarinetist Louis Sclavis have upped the ante by combining composed music with improvisation on silent film scores for small ensembles, making the coordination of sight and sound much more challenging.

Trumpeter Dave Douglas' Keystone (Greenleaf, 2005) is another contemporary entry, a two-disc release including a DVD of the ...

401
Album Review

Dave Douglas: Keystone

Read "Keystone" reviewed by Michael McCaw


Keystone is an incredibly mature-sounding album from Dave Douglas--not because his work up till now has not been complete, but because he has fully integrated the technology and mode of the music first espoused by Miles Davis. Yet he has moved beyond that reference point and created a group sound that is thoroughly modern and doesn't need to push itself to musical extremes to demonstrate mastery.Dedicated to and inspired by early film comic Fatty Arbuckle, Keystone uses the ...

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

ENSO

Sonic Image
2022

buy

Black Lives - From...

Jammin' Colors
2022

buy

Moonshine

Greenleaf Music
2007

buy

Keystone Live in...

Greenleaf Music
2006

buy

Keystone

Greenleaf Music
2005

buy

Kif

FuzeLicious Morsels
2003

buy

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