Jazz
Recorded at Airwave Studios, Chicago, IL, September 14-15, 1995
("The Black Basement" recorded live at Club Lower Links, Chicago, IL, May 19, 1991 by Sundell Close)
Hamid Drake - tabla, drum set, djimbe, conga, frame drum, bells, gongs, shakers, cymbals, tambourine, didjeridoo, voice (Zirk of the Heart)
Michael Zerang - dumbek, frame drums, tambourine, drum set, trap set, dawoola, bells, gongs, cymbals, chimes, bass drums, didjeridoo
on "Ararat Mountain Two-Step":
Ashik Altany - zurma
Eddie Zerang - djimbe
Cover artist: Eric Evans
Photographer: Marc PoKempner
Graphic designer: Louise Molnar
All compositions by Hamid Drake (Smiling Forehead/BMI) and Michael Zerang (MUNIMULAMUSIC/BMI)
Producers: Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake
Executive Producer: Bruno Johnson
Engineer: John McCortney
One of the few joys in Chicago's seasonal changes are the ritual solstice performances of percussionists Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang. Both of them are proficient on a wide array of African, Western and Middle Eastern rhythmic instruments, and there’s a clear sense of deep intuitive dialogue when they work together. What makes their universalist interactions fall so well into a jazz ideal is a quick-thinking sense of improvisation ("The Black Basement" stands out) and that they swing like mad right from the first track. There’s also a driving call-and-response with Ashik Altany's zurma on "Ararat Mountain Two-Step". (***1/2)
--- Aaron Cohen, "A New Chicago", Down Beat, January 1998 |
