In recent years there has been a welcome resurgence in the form of the classic jazz organ trio. Adam Levy has assembled a delightful trio here. The title track, "Buttermilk…

The live recording, GREAT SKY RIVER, is the third release from the fusion-jam band, Jazz Is Dead. For those of you who don’t know, the band derives its name from the fact t…

Percussionist Michael Bettine is committed to exploring the energy of percussion. Working with both composed and improvised music, his work strikes a balance between the melodic aspects of such European percussionists as Pierre Favre and Andrea Centazzo, and the anarchy of Lê Quan Ninh and Paul Lytton. Bettine specializes in metal percussion, utilizing a set up of over 80 cymbals, gongs, singing bowls, bell plates, bells, etc.. About Michael, DRUM! Magazine says: "Don't expect to hear burning ri …

A few years after his departure from the group YES, I had the pleasure of seeing drummer Bill Bruford perform with the budding and always cutting-edge progressive-rock band King Crimson back in the mid-‘70s at New York City’s Schaeffer Music Festival in Central Park. As a young drummer, I was fascinated by his distinct percussion vernacular and approach to the kit. For example, when you expected a snare hit, Bruford would roll off the hi-hat and create an offbeat that not only main …

It's impossible to not be affected by Sandip Burman's energy. Much like his drumming, the Calcutta, India native speaks at a brisk pace, punctuated by hearty laughter. He began formal study of the tabla drums at the age of six with Pandit Shyamal Bose of Calcutta, one of India's distinguished tabla maestros. While still not well known in America, he has come a long way from his impoverished boyhood in Durgapur, playing tabla alongside some of India's most prominent classical musicians (including …