“....[(D)ruminations is]an extraordinary manifestation of size in flux and diversity matched only by the breathtakingly vivid recording."
–Marc Medwin in the NYC Jazz Record, June 2024
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THE FOREST, a cooperative percussion quintet formed by Andrew Drury in 2021, releases its debut recording, (D)RUMINATIONS, on June 16, 2024 on the Different Track Recordings label. The album presents an extended suite by Andrew Drury that pays homage to his mentor, Ed Blackwell, and features Warren Smith on a composition he wrote and recorded with M’Boom.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Grammy Award winning producer/engineer, Jon Rosenberg, (D)ruminations leads the listener into lush sonic landscapes created by African-diasporic and orchestral percussion instruments. The recording highlights the legacy of the legendary drummer, Ed Blackwell, and advances a largely neglected tradition of the composing, improvising, multi-cultural percussion ensemble.
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THE FOREST, a cooperative percussion quintet formed by Andrew Drury in 2021, releases its debut recording, (D)RUMINATIONS, on June 16, 2024 on the Different Track Recordings label. The album presents an extended suite by Andrew Drury that pays homage to his mentor, Ed Blackwell, and features Warren Smith on a composition he wrote and recorded with M’Boom.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Grammy Award winning producer/engineer, Jon Rosenberg, (D)ruminations leads the listener into lush sonic landscapes created by African-diasporic and orchestral percussion instruments. The recording highlights the legacy of the legendary drummer, Ed Blackwell, and advances a largely neglected tradition of the composing, improvising, multi-cultural percussion ensemble.
The Forest brings together Gustavo Aguilar, Leah Bowden, Andrew Drury, Lesley Mok, and Michael Wimberly—a multi-generational, multi-cultural group of adventurous and accomplished percussionists, composers, and improvisers with deep experience in Jazz, Contemporary New Music, Free Improvisation, and other music traditions. The Forest is joined on (D)ruminations by special guests Warren Smith (percussion) and J. D. Parran (woodwinds), two esteemed colleagues, friends, and frequent collaborators with Forest members.
(D)ruminations consists of two pieces: “(D)ruminations for Edward Blackwell,” an extended, four-part suite composed by Andrew Drury specifically for this ensemble, and a 4 minute rendition of “Elements of a Storm,” composed by Warren Smith in 1969 and recorded by M’Boom in 1973 and 1984. The 2024 version of Smith’s “Elements” employs body percussion and multiple timpanis with Smith guiding the way while also playing his collection of bass drums and gongs.
“(D)ruminations for Edward Blackwell” was composed using material from the 1969 Mu First Part and Mu Second Part duo recording by Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell. This includes material played by Don Cherry (wind instruments, piano, and voice) but focuses on material played by Ed Blackwell on the drum set.
Blackwell was one of the most melodic drummers ever. He had a unique presence, sense of space, touch, groove, sound, dance, and a depth that gave his playing a dimension of ritual. These qualities were accompanied by a very personal lexicon of rhythms he wove into his playing that originated from New Orleans, Max Roach and bebop, and music he observedduring his travels, most notably in Africa. All of this makes his music ideal for compositional exploration.
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GUSTAVO AGUILAR
LEAH BOWDEN
ANDREW DRURY
LESLEY MOK
MICHAEL WIMBERLY
drum set, marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, timpani, gongs, concert bass drums, conga, bongos, djembe, aux. percussion, body percussion, shakers, piano, wood flutes, whistle, voiceSpecial Guests:
WARREN SMITH – timpani, gongs, bass drums, triangleJ.D. PARRAN – bass flute, contra-alto clarinet, soprano saxophone, bamboo saxophone, wood flutes
recorded June 10 & 11, 2022 and March 7, 2023 at The Bunker, Brooklyn, NY
engineer: Jon Rosenberg
assistant engineers: Nolan Thies and Alex Conroy
mastering: Jon Rosenberg
producer: Andrew Drury
photographs: Andrew Drury
design: Cheryl Richards(D)ruminations for Edward Blackwell, © Andrew Drury, Andrumo Music, BMI, 2023
Elements of a Storm, © Warren Smith, Miff Music, BMI 1970
This recording was made possible with the support of Continuum Culture & Arts, Inc. a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Special Thanks:
Sara Donnelly, Jess Porter, Jordana Leigh, Bonnie Whiting, James Falzone, Brian Chin, Steve Rowland, Phillip Chance, Vinny Golia, Tim Feeney, Cristian Amigo, David Borgo, Stephanie Richards, Anton Reid, Yale Lewis, Sheri Cohen, Dave Knott, Holly Michelle Eckert, Aine Pearson, Chai Smith, Ash Drury, Kevin Gaul, Becca Paisley, Phil Skaller, and Alissa Schwartz.
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Tracks 1-4:
(D)RUMINATIONS for EDWARD BLACKWELL(D)ruminations for Edward Blackwell was composed by Andrew Drury for The Forest, and is structured around material played by Ed Blackwell and Don Cherry on the 1969 recording sessions for Mu First Part and Mu Second Part, in particular from the tracks entitled “Sun of the East,” “The Mysticism of My Sound,” “Bamboo Nights,” “Amejelo”, and “Brilliant Action.”
(D)RUMINATIONS PART 1
Part 1 refers to “Sun of the East”Michael Wimberly, djembe, glockenspiel, marimba, sleigh bells, wood flute, metal objects
Lesley Mok, conga, drum set
Andrew Drury, drum set
Leah Bowden, Tibetan bells, marimba, snare drum, metal objects
Gustavo Aguilar, bass drum, gongs, vibraphone, sleigh bells, metal objects
JD Parran, bass flute, wood flute
Warren Smith, timpani gongs(D)RUMINATIONS PART 2
Part 2 refers to “The Mysticism of My Sound” and “Bamboo Nights”Andrew Drury, piano, voice
JD Parran, bamboo saxophone, wood flute
Michael Wimberly, drum set
Leah Bowden, drum set
Lesley Mok, timpani
Gustavo Aguilar, wood flute
(D)RUMINATIONS PART 3
Part 3 refers to “Amejelo”Gustavo Aguilar, triangle, conga, slide flute
Michael Wimberly, aux perc, wood flutes
Leah Bowden, auxiliary percussion
Andrew Drury/Lesley Mok, drum set
JD Parran, contra-alto clarinet, wood flute
(D)RUMINATIONS PART 4 (INTRO)
Part 4 Intro refers to Don Cherry’s pocket trumpet intro to “Brilliant Action”Andrew Drury, floor tom played as a wind instrument
Gustavo Aguilar, timpani played as a wind instrument*Brief note: around 2010 Andrew Drury developed a technique for playing drums as wind instruments by placing a bell-like object (actually a sink faucet escutcheon from a construction job he did) on the head of a drum and blowing in it. When the air pressure builds inside the faucet escutcheon to a high enough threshhold, air escapes between the drum head and the escutcheon causing the head to vibrate resulting in the production of audible sounds. By manipulating the harmonic matrix of the drum head in various ways that would be too lengthy to go into here, the resulting sounds can be manipulated to musical effect.
The sounds may be produced in a wide range of frequencies and dynamics and do not sound “like a drum” (even to most drummers) in the conventional sense. On recordings these sounds have often been attributed to people playing electronics, trumpet, violin, or electric guitar. We are unaware of anyone else employing this technique and would like to be informed if anyone is.
(D)RUMINATIONS PART 4
refers to “Brilliant Action”Gustavo Aguilar, vibraphone, whistle
Michael Wimberly, piano, marimba
Leah Bowden, marimba
Lesley Mok, drum set
Andrew Drury, drum set
Warren Smith, timpani, gongs, bass drumImprovisation Order on Part 4:
1. drum set duo during the head: Andrew Drury, Lesley Mok
2. percussion duo: Lesley Mok (drum set), Warren Smith (timpani, bass drums, gongs)
3. piano solo: Michael Wimberly
4. piano/drum set solos & duo: Michael Wimberly (piano), Andrew Drury (drum set)
5. duo: JD Parran (contra-alto clarinet), Gustavo Aguilar (vibraphone)
Track 5: ELEMENTS OF A STORM
(composed by Warren Smith)The Forest: body percussion, timpani
Warren Smith: gongs, bass drums, triangle
Gustavo Aguilar: bird sounds
BAND BIOGRAPHIES
GUSTAVO AGUILAR is an interdisciplinary artist whose approach combines the archive (preconceived elements such as notation, texts, documents) and the repertoire (present-conceived elements such as gesture, orality, aurality). A Brownsville, Texas native, Gustavo has performed at major festivals throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Gustavo is Co-Artistic Director of Tug an interdisciplinary arts collective that creates contact zones where people can generate insights about, and produce actions around, contemporary social issues. Gustavo is Associate Arts Professor at the Tisch School of the Arts/NYU and faculty in the MFA Art Practice at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
LEAH BOWDEN (D.M.A.) is a drummer/percussionist, music scholar and educator. She has recorded and toured with The Forest, red fish blue fish, William Winant Percussion Group, Kid Millions, Secret Drum Band, International Contemporary Ensemble, Cosmo Gold, and Baby Bushka, among others. After completing an ethnographic dissertation study of Max Roach and M’Boom at UC San Diego, Leah became the official archivist for M’Boom co-founder, Warren Smith. She also arranged and recorded the music of M’Boom with El Otro Lado, a bi-national percussion ensemble (USA/ Mexico). Leah is an Adjunct Music Professor at Springfield College.
ANDREW DRURY grew up near Seattle and mentored with Ed Blackwell from 1983-92. Drury has pioneered extended wind and friction techniques for drums, performing in 30 countries and on 80 recordings with musicians including Wadada Leo Smith, Myra Melford, Frank Lacy, Tomeka Reid, Annea Lockwood, Jason Kao Hwang, Satoko Fujii, Michel Doneda, and James Brandon Lewis. Drury has led over 1,500 workshops with vulnerable populations in shelters, prisons, Nicaraguan villages, refugee communities, and in 20 universities on three continents. He has produced over 200 Soup & Sound concerts every where from his home to Lincoln Center. He directs the non-profit organization, Continuum Culture & Arts.
LESLEY MOK (percussionist, composer, bandleader, interdisciplinary artist) works in sound, installation, film, and theater. Interested in how social conditions shape being, Mok’s work draws from queer and feminist art practices, Chinese philosophy, Caribbean folkloric traditions, and more. Mok has toured internationally and recorded with Myra Melford's Fire and Water featuring Ingrid Laubrock, Tomeka Reid, and Mary Halvorson, and recently completed a weeklong residency at SF Jazz with Kenny Barron featuring John Patitucci, Jen Shyu, and Kalia Vandever. Mok’s compositions have been performed by I.C.E., the JACK Quartet, and their own ten-piece improvising chamber ensemble, The Living Collection.
MICHAEL WIMBERLY (percussionist, composer, producer, educator) has performed with George Clinton and Parliament Funkedelic, Paul Winter Consort, Steve Coleman, Henry Rollins, D'Angelo, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson, Charles Gayle, and David Murray. Wimberly has been featured with Vienna’s Rundfunk Symphony, Tonkuntsler Symphony, and Leipzig Symphony. His compositions for dance are in the repertory of Urban Bush Women, Joffrey II, Alvin Ailey, Philadanco, Complexions, and The National Song and Dance Company of Mozambique. Two of his film scores appear on HBO productions and his latest CD “Afrofuturism” is on Temple Mountain Records. Since 2012 he has been fulltime faculty at Bennington College.
J D PARRAN plays multiple clarinets, saxophones and flutes. His virtuosity and mastery over a number of extended techniques has made him a valued collaborator with Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Amir Elsaffar, Anthony Davis and others. Parran has collaborated and appeared on recordings with leading musical practitioners (Andrew Hill, Marty Ehrlich, Hamiet Bluiett, Douglas Ewart, James Jabbo Ware, Robert Dick, Ned Rothenberg, Jimmy Owens, Andrew Drury, George E. Lewis, Don Byron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Stevie Wonder, Lena Horne, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. His recordings as leader include J D Parran and Spirit Stage, Omegathorp: Living City, Kokopilau and Window Spirits: Solo. J D was at Harlem School of the Arts for 28 years and continues teaching at Borough of Manhattan Community College CUNY and Greenwich House Music School where he leads the definitive jazz orchestra, Dance Clarinets.
WARREN SMITH—Jazz drummer, conservatory trained percussionist, composer, arranger, bandleader, Loft Era proprietor of Studio WIS, and among the first generation of jazz educators at the university level, Warren Smith has performed on more than 3,000 record dates and countless performances with Aretha Franklin, Harry Partch, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Barbra Streisand, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Nat King Cole, Anthony Braxton, The Last Poets, The Fugs, Gladys Knight and the Pips, John Cage, George Russell, Julius Hemphill, Lena Horne, Quincy Jones, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Judy Collins, Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, The Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington, and Joe Zawinul, to name a few. He was a member of Leonard Bernstein’s original West Side Story orchestra, was Janis Joplin’s Music Director at the height of her fame, and a member Tony Williams’ Lifetime, and a founding member with Max Roach and others of the seminal percussion ensemble, M’Boom.
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