Biography

ANDREW DRURY is a drummer, improviser, composer, and bandleader as well as a presenter, producer, educator. He is a pioneer of extended techniques for percussion, most notably in the use of drums as a wind instruments. Rooted in lifelong fascinations with Nature and African-diasporic creativity and cultivated by a decade-long mentorship with Ed Blackwell, Drury’s work combines a reverence for musical tradition with an openness to the infinite possibility of the moment. Originally from the Seattle area, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Drury performs as a soloist, leads small and large ensembles, produces audio and video work, and collaborates with adventurous musicians and artists in many contexts. He has performed in 30 countries and on 80 recordings. He has presented over 250 concerts everywhere from his home in Brooklyn and community settings across the US and abroad, to Lincoln Center.

Drury co-founded and runs the non-profit organization, Continuum Culture & Arts. He has given masterclasses in 20 universities on three continents, and has led over 1,500 workshops in schools, prisons, museums, homeless shelters, shelters for battered women, with Kurdish refugees in Germany, on Indian reservations (including the Oneida Nation where he was artist-in-residence for six months in 2000), and in remote villages in Guatemala and Nicaragua. His work has consistently received critical acclaim including designation as “2023 Brooklyn Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Over the years he has had the pleasure of playing with great artists, well-known and obscure, including Christine Abdelnour, Ras Burnett, Taylor Ho Bynum, Nels Cline, Chris Cochrane, Joseph Daley, Kris Davis, Robert Dick, Michel Doneda, Mark Dresser, Peter Evans, Ken Filiano, The Forest, Satoko Fujii, Charles Gayle, Hill Greene, Dick Griffin, Stephanie Griffin, Mary Halvorson, Craig Harris, Wayne Horvitz, Earl Howard, Jason Kao Hwang, Howard Johnson, Eyvind Kang, DoYeon Kim, Mazen Kerbaj, Briggan Krauss, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Gwen Laster, Ingrid Laubrock, Annea Lockwood, Jessica Lurie, Alexis Marcelo, Brad Mehldau, Myra Melford, Butch Morris, Aruán Ortiz, J. D. Parran, Hernan Jay Rodriguez Sierra, Tomeka Reid, Stephanie Richards, Roswell Rudd, Brandon Seabrook, Elliott Sharp, Wally Shoup, Wadada Leo Smith, Warren Smith, Steve Swell, John Tchicai, Reggie Watts, Nate Wooley, and Jack Wright, to name a few.