Publisher’s Letter: Fascinating Rhythms

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It was wood blocks rather than drums that powered the earliest jazz recordings. Not that drummers such as Baby Dodds and Zutty Singleton weren’t lighting up their snares and bass drums with the bands of Papa Celestin and Fate Marable in the early part of the 20th century, only that the technology hadn’t caught up: Drums made the needle jump on record lathes, thus necessitating quieter percussion in the studio — playing the rims, say, or using brushes, cymbals, cowbell and assorted “traps.” But with the advent of electrical recording in the mid-1920s, it was listeners worldwide who would jump to the sounds of jazz drumming, and we’re jumping still. The swing era seems unimaginable without the driving syncopation of Chick Webb or Gene Krupa, who would battle for big band supremacy at the Savoy Ballroom in 1937, when Benny Goodman’s band challenged Webb’s outfit for the heavyweight title. “Webb cut me to ribbons!” a defeated Krupa later reminisced. (Webb would lose to Duke Ellington’s Sonny Greer that same year, top Count Basie’s Papa Jo Jones in 1938 and die from spinal tuberculosis at age 34 in 1939, leaving the band in the hands of a young singer named Ella Fitzgerald.)

And while Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are usually heralded as the fathers of bebop, Kenny Clarke’s contributions were just as central, his insistent ride cymbal and kick-drum punctuation setting the template for modern jazz drumming. Bop was rocket fuel for young drummers Louis Hayes and Billy Hart, who grew up listening to records by Bird and Diz and are profiled in this issue’s Traditions and Blu Notes columns, respectively. Hayes would become a coveted sideman with hard-bop innovators Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley, while Hart blazed a trail alongside Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis, among others; both men, now in their 80s, continue to create excitement on stage and in the studio. The grandson of bop drum stalwart Roy Haynes, Marcus Gilmore grew up in the family business, gleaning knowledge from his uncle, Graham Haynes, as well as jazz-drum giants Max Roach and Milford Graves. Profiled in this issue, Gilmore has enjoyed an eclectic career, participating in projects with tabla master Zakir Hussain, members of the Cape Town Philharmonic and genre-spanning keyboardist Robert Glasper. A generation ahead of Gilmore, Jorge Rossy built his reputation as the drummer in Brad Mehldau’s trio in the 1990s before embarking on an intriguing journey that’s seen him leading his own groups on piano. Also spotlighted in this issue, Rossy discusses his debut album for the ECM label, on which he plays vibraphone, yet another instrument on which he displays a unique voice. Never an easy lift, Mike Clark spent years trying to redefine his place in the jazz world. Clark, who established himself with Herbie Hancock’s funk-jazz powerhouse The Headhunters in the 1970s, is renowned to a generation of hip-hop artists for his remarkable technique on tracks such as “God Make Me Funky.” Nonetheless, he’s pursued hard-hitting straightahead jazz in subsequent years, and talks to JAZZIZ about recent releases with saxophonist Michael Zilber and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey. From Max Roach and Art Blakey to Buddy Rich and Joe Morello to Elvin Jones and Tony Williams, drummers have provided the not-so-secret ingredient to some of the best jazz ever recorded. We celebrate them with this issue, and really, with every issue.— Michael Fagien