Tom Teasley's Duo of Duos

Tom Teasley
Lunch Break (featuring Dave Ballou)
Self Produced
2025

Considering that there's such a thing as talking drums, it is no surprise to hear how they can also whisper or sing or shout—at least in a skilled pair of hands, which is exactly what we have here. With a well-rounded array of things to tap and thump, Tom Teasley approaches percussion the way a chef approaches a pantry stocked with every spice known to chefkind. As soon as he and Dave Ballou start cooking, the appetizer is hot and spicy, the meter-twisting followup slick yet crunchy, and they keep sprinkling more dashes of colorful tones through each part of the program.

Ballou's trumpet skirts and dashes around Teasley's crafty rhythm beds with the deftness of a dancer prowling the stage. He takes the role of the wind on "When the Wind Cries" while Teasley clicks and clatters like a set of sticks being blown around in the gusts. The middle-Eastern "Riqq Talk" complements Ballou's flowing lines with some tambourine rattles and a little konokol scatting; with "Rush Hour," the pair recreate the swish of downtown traffic and make the chaos surprisingly catchy in the process.

Amidst the rhythmic buffet, the duo have no problem finding a little space for the slow and mysterious. Teasley includes two homages to the great Max Roach with both frisky beats and snake-charmer rattles. Fittingly, their respect for past roots is just as important as keeping the rhythm going. The groove doesn't stop for the thoughtful "Lullaby" or calmly wistful finale "Gratitude," although it comes closest during "Prayer for the Ancestors" when the pair drift into outer space amidst a swirl of resonant Rav Drum chimes which feel like the voice of the cosmos. With so much on the table, Lunch Break feels like less a break than a full and filling buffet.

Tom Teasley
Wisdom -Tom Teasley Remembers Charles Williams
Self Produced
2024

"With my heart, I welcome you!" The affable shout from Charles Williams is not just an enthused line for an introductory poem, but sets the tone for a rich work of passion and beauty. He does indeed pour his heart out through the course of Wisdom as singer, poet, storyteller and sage. His joyful performance is a portrayal as much as a recitation, and the duo's blending is a dialogue as much as a performance. There are many forms of wisdom, but the key to this one seems to be the ability to listen, empathize and be open to anything and everything in every moment.

To hear Williams is to hear a voice connected to long tradition and experience, proficient at conveying things beyond and between the words. Even without knowing that it was his last work (being recorded only days before he left the world), it is plain to hear the soul underlying the lines. The material itself largely consists of time-honored poetry; he renders African spirituals and Cherokee fables alongside some hip modern lines from Langston Hughes and philosophizing from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, all centered around consistent themes of optimism and love, and with a deep gravitas from a voice rich as decades-old Scotch.

While the performance humbly honors those ideals, Teasley humbly honors his friend with playing both generous and supportive. He makes it his job to punctuate and underscore the vocal without taking any of the spotlight. Tuned hand toms provide some melodic ups and downs to complement the light and shade of the words. Melodica or flute add something airy when more beats would have been too heavy. His percussion rolls along when a story gets going or stops and pauses just when a little dramatic effect is called for. Between the earthy hand-sculpted percussion tones and some otherworldly resonant rings, the atmosphere is one of deep connection and oneness with the world— Wisdom inevitably (and fittingly) has its share of mourning as well, but is ultimately an uplifting celebration of a life and of life itself.

Tracks and Personnel

Lunch Break

Tracks: Tips in Baghdad; Four or Six; When the Wind Cries; For Max; Rush Hour; Lullaby; Jongo; Mop Shake and Roll; Prayer for the Ancestors; Riqq Talk; Gratitude.

Personnel: Tom Teasley: drums and percussion; Dave Ballou: trumpet.

Wisdom -Tom Teasley Remembers Charles Williams

Tracks: Funga Alafia; African Proverbs; Tambourines to Glory; The Blues; Cherokee Tale; Motto, Acceptance, Evil; I Still Believe; Wade in the Water; Mother to Son; I Dream a World; Oh Freedom; Haikus for the Seasons.

Personnel: Tom Teasley: percussion, melodica, flute, RAV drum; Charles Williams: vocals.

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