Devin
Gray, one of the most promising drummer-composers on the New York scene, made
his leader debut on record with 2012's widely lauded Dirigo Rataplan, which saw
him front an eponymous crew of heavyweight veterans - saxophonist Ellery
Eskelin, trumpeter Dave Ballou and bassist Michael Formanek - in a set of his
original compositions. Cadence magazine declared it "fantastic,"
while JazzTimes said that Gray's debut represented "the work of a young
artist who knows who he is." For his second album as a leader, RelativE
ResonancE - to be released June 9 via Skirl Records - Gray convened a band of
close New York associates, also trading under the name RelativE ResonancE:
saxophonist-clarinetist Chris Speed, pianist Kris Davis and bassist Chris
Tordini. Whereas Gray's writing for Dirigo Rataplan is lyrical, open and
encouraging of free-minded improv, the RelativE ResonancE material is
rhythmically intricate and more composition-driven, while still leaving room
for some of the scene's most individual improvisers to express themselves.
Gray's RelativE ResonancE will celebrate the release of the album with a
performance in the Sound It Out series at Greenwich House Music School in New
York City's West Village, on June 13 (as part of a double-bill with the Matt
Mitchell Quartet, featuring Chris Speed, Chris Tordini and Dan Weiss).
Gray took
his inspiration for the album title and band name RelativE ResonancE from a
comment by the great Tony Williams in a masterclass seen on YouTube. "Tony
was talking about tuning a drum and getting the 'relative resonance' right
between the top and bottom heads so that the drums will speak or sing,"
Gray explains. "I thought about that idea as a universal philosophy that
extends to an entire band - getting the relative resonance between instruments
and personalities right so that the group will really sing. I wanted this band,
RelativE ResonancE, to have a special rapport - and we've developed that over
almost five years of playing together. This is vital because these compositions
are very different, and exciting, for me as a musician. Writing for Dirigo
Rataplan is about coming up with interesting lines for great players and seeing
where we can take them. Composing for RelativE ResonancE is more about creating
involved, layered material and then experimenting with how we play it to make
the music come alive.
"The
pieces on this album are like multi-dimensional mosaics," Gray continues.
"Some work more like traditional tunes - "City Nothing City,"
"In the Cut" and the title number - but with the other five tracks, I
wrote a totally independent, etude-like part for each us. That's an
unconventional method, but I was eager to see how the music would come out when
we played these parts together, honing things so that they were perfectly
attuned. The process was like tuning the band to create a mosaic that
resonated."
Gray's
stature as a creative composer and soulful player can be measured by the
company he keeps. The drummer, who turns 32 two days before the release of
RelativE ResonancE, met Formanek while a student at the Peabody Conservatory in
Baltimore, where the bassist is on the faculty. The elder musician says:
"Devin has always been one of those natural drummers, with an organic
rhythmic energy that you can just feel. More than that, he has become a very
creative musician - his music has its own personality, which is the goal for
any artist." For his part, Skirl proprietor Chris Speed says:
"Devin's passionate enthusiasm for music-making - his commitment to
discovering ideas and developing them into weird, fun, cohesive music - is
infectious, a pleasure to be a part of."
About his
bandmates in RelativE ResonancE, Gray says: "They're all fearless
musicians, open-minded and full of integrity - and real individuals, even if
there's confusion in rehearsal with each of them named Chris/KrisŠ With Kris
Davis, she's so forward-thinking, always willing and able to find spaces in the
music that she can fill with her creativity. Chris Speed brings an incredibly
wide base of experience - playing avant-improv with Tim Berne, world-influenced
tunes with Pachora and more traditional jazz with his own trio, among much else
- to the interpreting of any piece. And I love the way Chris Tordini hears
music - no matter the setting, he has a great ear for how to push music to be
all it can be. That's what every musician should aim for, really, and what
every band should do collectively. The music on this album was inspired by
modernist classical composers like Berg and Xenakis, as well as jazz figures
like Ornette Coleman with his harmolodics and Henry Threadgill with his
endlessly inspiring compositions. Ultimately, though, this music is the
relative resonance
between these compositions and these players, the sounds we
have on our instruments and the way our personalities work together."
Born and
bred in Maine and a New Yorker since 2006, Gray leads the groups RelativE
ResonancE and Dirigo Rataplan, with a second album's worth of music for the
latter band already written and debuted live. Time Out New York has praised
"Gray's smart compositions, which balance formal elasticity with a
meticulous sense of pacing." He performs regularly in duos with
saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Gray has also toured
Europe leading his Swedish/American band Slicing and Dicing, as well as with
the cooperative VAX (including Patrick Breiner and Liz Kosack). VAX has
released two vinyl-only albums, in 2013 and 2014. As a sideman, Gray has recorded upcoming
albums as part of Nate Wooley's Argonautica (with Ron Miles, Jozef Dumoulin,
Cory Smythe and Rudy Royson) and the Daniel Levine Trio (with Marc Hannaford).
The latter group recorded an album for upcoming release, with Mark Helias at
the helm.
Last year,
Gray released the album Jagged Spheres with Anna Webber and Elias Stemeseder.
He recorded with Gary Thomas and Joel Grip as the trio Corpulent, releasing the
album Wolf Walk in 2005. The drummer performs in the trio Transit Heavy with
Satoko Fuji and Natsuki Tamura; the Richard Bonnet Trio with Tony Malaby; and
in trios with Uri Caine and Michael Formanek and with Andrea Parkins and Frank
Gratkowski. He also tours Europe regularly as a member of the Daniel Guggenheim
Quartet with Peter Madsen and Sean Smith, having taken over the drum chair from
Gerald Cleaver in 2012. Gray plays Canopus drums and Zildjian cymbals and
sticks. Writing about him, All About Jazz has said that Gray is a musician who
"dares you not to listen then challenges once you do."
Devin
Gray: RelativE ResonancE
1. City
Nothing City
2. In the
Cut
3.
Notester
4. Jungle
Design (for Hannah Shaw)
5.
Transatlantic Transitions
6. Undo
the Redo
7.
RelativE ResonancE (for Tadd Dameron)
8. Search
It Up
All
compositions by Devin Gray (VonerMusic, BMI)
Devin
Gray, drums; Chris Speed, tenor saxophone and clarinet; Kris Davis, piano;
Chris Tordini, double-bass
Produced
by Devin Gray; recorded by Tom Tedesco at Tedesco Studios, NJ
Mixed with
Eivind Opsvik; mastered with Liberty Ellman; edited with Nathaniel Morgan
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