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Christine Wodrascka/ Jean Luc Cappozzo/ Gerry Hemingway: Grey Matter

By John Sharpe

Impromptu meetings between improvisers hailing from diverse backgrounds are by now a commonplace event. But it's less usual is for the resultant grouping to take on a collective name, the surnames or initials normally sufficing for commoditization. For a group to perform under a moniker implies both a sense of purpose and a strong shared identity, and perhaps signals an intent to continue as an entity. 2o étage, as they call themselves, certainly matches up to the first two parameters, ...

Gerry Hemingway: Kernelings

By Glenn Astarita

Drummer Gerry Hemingway penned these solo works from 1995-2012 and recorded the album at various points during this timeframe. Essentially, the CD and companion DVD pinpoint his artistic proclivities partly framed in multimedia. It took 15 years to complete the project. The program is divided into four parts: mist, dust, light, and sex, although the CD track list solely denotes the 15 works appearing in sequential order without references to the four topics. Viewing the film is meant ...

2° ‘etage: Grey Matter

By Glenn Astarita

The album liners disclose that 2° 'etage improvises with the panache of storytellers, painters and poets. Starkly expressive, the program is sculpted with a mindset that parlays the old adage, “let the chips fall where they may," largely framed on airy dialogues, minimalism and unorthodox soundscapes. They work from a platform, consisting of fractured passages and take their time unraveling themes other than spots where eminent drummer Gerry Hemingway interjects rumbling fills into a broad plane of free-flowing exchanges.

Gerry Hemingway Quintet: Riptide

By Mark Corroto

Over the past 25 years, the lineup of drummer/percussionist Gerry Hemingway's quintet might have changed, but his central organizing concepts have remained constant. Like a working dog, specifically a shepherd, he always seems to be organizing chaos and safeguarding melody. Well, that is, when he isn't inciting the tumult.The most recent variation of his quintet floats a two-horn, Oscar Noriega and Ellery Eskelin frontline, along with Hemmingway's his recent favorite collaborator, guitarist Terrence McManus, and bassist Kermit Driscoll.

Gerry Hemingway: Songs

By Martin Longley

When drummer Gerry Hemingway decides to pursue a song-based project, the only predictable outcome is that it will be unpredictable. His approach to composition includes elements of rock, electronica, minimalism and Broadway intimacy, yet can't be deemed any of these things. As well as the music, Hemingway has also penned the words. His chosen voice is Lisa Sokolov, who skirts around most of the jazz clichés, without settling fully on any other shackled forms. Each song features echoes of fast-switching ...

Gerry Hemingway Twofer: Less is More & Demon Chaser

By Kurt Gottschalk

WHO Trio Less is More Clean Feed 2009 Gerry Hemingway Quintet Demon Chaser hatOLOGY 2009 Much seems to have gone down in the decade since Michel Wintsch, Gerry Hemingway and Banz Oester released Identity on Leo. That was a solid piano jazz record with hints of the quietude that was, apparently, to come. For ...

The Art of Listening: A Sense of Place

By AAJ Staff

By Gerry Hemingway I am writing to offer my insights about the experience of listening from the perspective of being a musician. The art of listening is, of course, a somewhat open-ended topic that, for the sake of this article, will concentrate primarily on a few points of what I have observed and can articulate verbally about on the experience of music and sound for me as a player and creator of composed and improvised music. I am ...

Gerry Hemingway Quintet: Demon Chaser

By Troy Collins

Demon Chaser, which documents a live concert recorded at Ottenbrucher Bahnhof in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Germany on March 2nd, 1993, stands tall in drummer Gerry Hemingway's discography as one of the finest achievements of his celebrated transatlantic quintet. This is its second printing.

Synchronous with the dissolution of the classic Anthony Braxton quartet of the late eighties/early nineties, Hemingway embarked on a different path, eschewing Braxton's oblique methodology in favor of an open-minded neo-traditional approach. Comprised of artists from America ...

Gerry Hemingway: Buffalo Pearl & Kinetics

By Stuart Broomer

John Butcher/ Gerry Hemingway Buffalo Pearl Auricle 2008 Gerry Hemingway/ Thomas Lehn Kinetics Auricle 2008

Gerry Hemingway isn't restricted by any particular concept of the drummer. He's led forceful bands with sidemen like Ellery Eskelin and Ray Anderson, updating hard bop and post-bop in the process and made empathetic contributions to ...

Gerry Hemingway: Double Blues Crossing and The Whimbler

By Kurt Gottschalk

Gerry Hemingway Double Blues Crossing Between the Lines 2005 Gerry Hemingway The Whimbler Clean Feed 2005 It'd be too easy to make drummer jokes (How can you tell when a drummer's at the door? The knocking keeps getting faster.), but there might be some relevance to it. Hemingway possesses some talent many percussionists lack, ...

Gerry Hemingway: The Whimbler

By Michael McCaw

For those who may approach Gerry Hemingway as an acolyte of Anthony Braxton and thus shy away from the often dense musical milieu put forth by Braxton and his ilk, The Whimbler is cause for intrigue and celebration. And for those who approach Hemmingway for exactly this association, don't turn away because the compositions aren't mathematical equations.Working with the pliable and flexible combo of Ellery Eskelin (tenor), Herb Robertson (trumpet), and Mark Helias (basses), Hemmingway has crafted nine ...

Gerry Hemingway: The Whimbler

By Mark Corroto

Gerry Hemingway's second release on Clean Feed changes a couple of musical partners, but it keeps that critical vibe alive. Hemingway retains tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin from Devil's Paradise (2003) but replaces bassist Mark Dresser with Mark Helias and swaps out Ray Anderson's trombone for Herb Robertson's trumpet.

This new quartet replaces original voices with, well, more original voices. The distinctive sounds of each musician make The Whimbler an animated session. Ellery Eskelin has developed a cult following ...