Hamid Drake
Catch of a Ghost
"Three names, three cultures, three continents, three different concepts of time and timing -- this is the essence of this trio. This is what we have to bring together." -- Peter Brötzmann, Wuppertal, April 1st, 2019With these words, Peter Brötzmann, one of the great figures in the development of a unique European approach to free improvisation since the '60s, announced his return to the AngelicA festival in 2019. A trio featuring Hamid Drake -- one of the best living drummers and guembri player…
Balancing Tear
"A glorious re-match for Chicago’s superb free-rock trio, Mako Sica, and the jazz world’s percussionist of choice, Hamid Drake. Their last collaboration, Ronda, was a glorious, open-ended studio conversation spread across two LPs. Balancing Tear is a mix of studio and live recordings, awash with calmly oceanic passages, interspersed with compressed and feverish form-blurts.As with Ronda, the heft of the material is dynamically advanced. The album begins with passages worthy of Morricone’s wester…
Ronda
"Brilliant, inspired and somewhat surprising collaboration between
Chicago's premier free-rock trio and the truly legendary percussionist, Hamid Drake, who has played with everyone from Don Cherry to Peter Brötzmann to Lee Perry. This collusion was precipitated by Matt Jackowiak,
a mutual friend, who thought a merging of their sounds might make for
an ecstatic explosion. This feeling became mutual after they played a
show together at Constellation. The set mixes Mako Sica tunes with improvis…
Keep Going
It's easy to be cynical these days, maybe difficult to imagine that music can change the world, but not for Joe McPhee and Hamid Drake. With Keep Going, they will make the planet a better place for humanity, a place to be humane, to preserve humankind. At 78 years old, Poughkeepsie multi-instrumentalist McPhee is a national treasure, and he's making more music than ever before, pushing himself to tour incessantly, issuing astonishing new records at a fierce rate. But this release, with legendary…
Full Circle - Live In Lódz
Two great musicians. Two musical Words. First time on CD. Full Circle –
new live CD from legendary drummer Hamid Drake and one of the most
important American improviser Ned Rothengerg.
Frode Gjerstad With Hamid Drake And William Parker
Featuring Frode Gjerstad on alto sax & clarinet, William Parker on contrabass and Hamid Drake on drums & percussion. Norwegian saxist Frode Gjerstad is one of the most prolific and hard working of all European saxists, a career that stretches back some forty plus years, with upwards of 100 releases during his long tenure. Mr. Gjerstad is forever juggling several bands simultaneously: Detail (with John Stevens & Johnny Dyani), Calling Signals (with Nick Stephens), Ultralyd (Scandinavian noise/roc…
Heads Or Tails
Two different duets between reedman Sylvain Kassap and percussionist Hamid Drake – one live, one studio – recorded six years apart, but sounding wonderful together in this double-length package! The first section is live – and features some very long, open improvisations – with Kassap on a range of clarinets, mostly in the bass range, plus chalumeau as well – as Drake opens up his drum kit with that special sort of magic that's made him a key percussionist in the legacy of rhythm-free drummers l…
Jungle: Live At Okuden
"The second LP from Polish reedman and flautist Mat Walerian is also the second with pianist Matthew Shipp, the second with ESP-Disk Records and the second recorded within the live Okuden Concert Series. But the primary distinction of this second 'Live at Okuden' album is the addition of Hamid Drake. Jungleexpands the off-the-cuff musical conference to an elite drummer of improvised music. Many songs literally run into other so that it flows as if it's just a few extended pieces instead of thirt…
Live At Jazzwerkstatt Peitz
This performance from May 2014 was the opening concert at Jazzwerkstatt 51, given by Charles Gayle (tenor saxophone, piano), William Parker (double bass) and Hamid Drake (drums) in the Stüler Church, Peitz, Germany. The concert was dedicated “In Memoriam Peter Kowald”, the German bassist who died in 2002 and lived in New York for almost the last two decades of his life. Gayle and Parker were among his earliest musical associates in the city, as seen in the film Rising Tones Cross (full of now fa…
Die Like a Dog
German reedman-composer Peter Brotzmann is, despite an immense catalog spanning over forty years of activity in free music, criminally underrepresented in the format of a "standard" piano-less quartet. From reed-heavy octets and orchestras to the winds-bass-drums power trio, not to mention a long-running trio with percussion and piano, most of the possible formations have been covered. His Die Like A Dog Quartet was the one entry in this instrumental canon in the late 1990s, and produced five re…
Tender Exploration
“Tender Exploration” reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle”, it’s an enormous metallic machine on spindly legs, walking like a toddler, but also steaming, mumbling, panting, a creature full of energy, and inhabited by a fire demon. “Drake”, the first track”, starts seeking for a structure almost clumsily, the band members seem to have to find each other. But soon they have a good chemistry and Bauer, who dominates this piece in spite of its name, adds his huge repertoire of tech…
Solid And Spirit
2022 restock, last copies. Recorded on April 18, 2010 at Clemente Velez Center, New York City. German free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Peter Brötzmann: alto and tenor sax, B-flat clarinet, tarogato. American jazz drummer/percussionist, Hamid Drake: drums and percussion.
Multi-reedist Peter Brotzmann and drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake met in the studio in New York City, April 2010, to record this double album of fiercely intense and beautiful improvised music. Consisting of 6 improvisati…