Drumwise

An album filled with piano and percussion music. It has been done before. Yet drummer Wim Kegel dared to ask his musical friend Marc van Roon to record such an album with him. The result is 'Drumwise' and it is a solid example of how fantasy, daring, professional knowledge, historical insight, and far-reaching improvisation techniques can lead to a beautiful recording.

Drumwise consists of ten pieces. Two of them, Take The A Train and Fleurette Africaine are by Duke Ellington, two are from the Great American Songbook. These are The Song Is You by Jerome Kern and Night And Day by Cole Porter. The other compositions are by both performers.

The choice of pieces created an extremely versatile end product. Anyone who thinks that the above compositions are yet another - copied - version will be disappointed. Wim Kegel and Marc van Roon take the opportunity to strip the pieces of their old skin and to translate them to this time and their own insights. That means incalculable turns in melody and harmony, different accents, and a pleasant experience of what you think you know and yet is different.

The own pieces are tests of high-quality craftsmanship. They portray two musicians who know each other through and through, but who are also purified through their interaction with others. Both played with Michael Brecker, Clark Terry, and Dave Liebman, but each separately with Willem van Manen's Contraband, Pat Metheny, Sunny Murray, and Down Town Jazz Band (Kegel). Marc van Roon occupied the piano stool with Terry Lyne Carrington, Linda Oh and Art Farmer, among others.

That bouquet of bright jazz colors shines through on Drumwise. Wim Kegel's style of play based on African rhythms frolics with the transparent playing style of Marc van Roon. His swift chord fields, interspersed with rested, thoughtful piano playing, contrast with Wim Kegel's somewhat raw percussion sound. And flows beautifully with it at the same time.

Drumwise is therefore an album that you are guaranteed to pull out often. The place where the music was recorded, the Lutheran Church in Haarlem and the man who signed for it, Bert van der Wolf, certainly contribute to this.

The repertoire is stylistically beautifully varied, with clear originals from both Kegel and Van Roon.