Monday, February 9, 2015

Andrew Drury, Content Provider

You may know Andrew Drury as a fired-up, most original drummer who has sparked many a session in avant contemporary jazz around New York and over the world. What you may not know is the Andrew Drury who is a potent composer and bandleader. That you can hear wonderfully well on his brand new release Content Provider (Soup and Sound 50001). He sometimes reminds you how much he digs Eddie Blackwell, but there is so much more, too.

He's picked some very game players in Briggan Krauss on alto, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor and Brandon Seabrook on electric guitar. (Brandon is perhaps more well-known as a blazing banjoist, but as guitarist here he sounds quite good, quite at home.)

The compositions are challenging and filled with rhythmic complexities and noteful stamina. The music suits Andrew's very involved and hip drumming and he takes advantage with some great work. There are free elements and some heavy rock moments thanks to Brandon's heat. Briggen and Ingrid make a great two-horn team. They work some very involved two-horn dialogs that get over-the-top in very cool ways. And of course they solo individually with their own very personal approach.

Brandon's guitar work is pretty exceptional--he goes out and gets some real steam with avant metal moments that certainly get my attention. And the two horns and guitar voicings of some of the themes are really strong and right at you!

So the electric part may get some purists snarled up. It's time we recognize that it's not only legitimate to do this (and how many years ago did Sharrock first startle us?), but it can also, as here, be a vital expression of our contemporary world.

It still ain't what you do. It's still the way hatcha do it . . . as Jimmy Lunceford's band put it so many years ago. And the way Andrew Drury and band do it is beautifully. Beautifully alive.

This is a drummer's album in some ways. It has the rhythmic vitality that drummer-leaders give you when they feel it. And it has a very vital energy and electricity that speaks to our world today. So, yeah! Dig on this one because it has the courage to make a beautifully huge noise!

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