Projects

THE FOREST

The Forest is a new, cooperative percussion group comprised of five composer/percussionists (Andrew Drury, Gustavo Aguilar, Leah Bowden, Lesley Mok, and Michael Wimberly) who possess deep experience working in dialogue with a wide range of African-Diasporic musics, Contemporary New Music, Free Improvisation, and other musical forms and philosophies. The Forest seeks to contribute to, and expand upon, these traditions through the incorporation of new performance techniques, explorations of setting and space, and through innovative collaborations with musical communities of all kinds. The Forest is dedicated to improvisation and composition, performing new and existing works by its members and selected works by other composer/percussionists. Individual members of The Forest have performed worldwide on projects involving many disciplines and media with great artists well-known and obscure. Each member teaches and works as a community artist. Three of the five have affiliations with universities. All are organizers whose experience includes working in many community settings, promoting music and musicians, and elevating community. LEARN MORE

ANDREW DRURY’S CONTENT PROVIDER

Content Provider is Drury’s quartet featuring Ingrid Laubrock and Briggan Krauss (saxophones), Brandon Seabrook (guitar), and Drury himself (drums/percussion/composer). The group has recorded two cds of Drury compositions, Content Provider (2015) and Try (2018) and has performed at Edgefest (Ann Arbor), Roulette (Brooklyn), and other East Coast venues. The self-titled cd, “Content Provider,” was named a “Top Ten CD of 2015” by NYC Jazz Record editor Andrey Henkin.

ANDREW DRURY TENTET

Following five performances in Brooklyn from 2016 to 2018 by the Andrew Drury Tentet, in 2021 Drury will premiere a feature length video “What It All Could Be: Vinalhaven.” With videography and musical composition by Drury the music was recorded under strict social distancing protocols, which is to say individually by each musician who sent Drury their recordings before he edited them together.

Performers include Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Stephanie Griffin (viola), Tomeka Reid (cello), Ken Filiano (bass), Thomas Heberer (trumpet), Frank Lacy (trombone), JD Parran (conta-alto clarinet and flute), Brandon Seabrook (guitar), Alexis Marcelo (piano), and Andrew Drury (drums/percussion/composer).

A 29 minute, work-in-progress excerpt of What It All Can Be is viewable HERE.

ANDREW DRURY SOLO

Drury’s solo work explores the drum set, percussion with found objects (natural and human-made), extended techniques, and other manipulations of the performance environment (video, spatialized sound, setting, etc.) and incorporate words and socio-political themes.

Solo performances have been presented in urban performance spaces from Russia to Argentina to Cascadia, and at sites of environmental and human rights atrocity such as in proximity of clearcuts and mountaintop removal, the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington State, at a 30th anniversary memorial of the Tiannanmen Square massacre with survivors of that event, and in front of the Clint, Texas concentration camp for immigrant children.

Drury’s solo work is featured on two cds—Renditions (2009) and The Drum (2015)—on an unreleased recording from 1999, As We Speak.

EARTH SERIES

A subset of Drury’s solo work, the Earth Series is an ongoing series of improvisational, ritual performances that have taken place in desert, mountain, prairie, and other outdoor settings in the western US. 25 were performed in eight States between 1989 and 1995 and six more were performed in 2019. Additional Earth Series events, involving more musicians, were being planned for 2020 before the pandemic necessitated a change of plan.

VIDEO with WARREN SMITH

A duo with multi-percussionist Warren Smith, improvising in Smith’s Studio in the Bronx. Video by Sara Pettinella.

Drury/Smith 1: https://vimeo.com/663234956

Drury/Smith 2: https://vimeo.com/660329892