Owen
Howard, originally from Edmonton, Canada, has performed and recorded with the
likes of Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Tom Harrell, Kenny Wheeler, John
Abercrombie, Dave Liebman, George Garzone, Dave Holland, Eddie Henderson,
Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton and many others. He has appeared on over forty
recordings to date, including five under his own name, and has toured
extensively throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. With more than
twenty years of successfully leading his own bands, Howard is clearly an artist
successfully following in the footsteps of legendary drummers/bandleaders such
as Tony Williams, Peter Erskine, Billy Hart, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Motian, Al
Foster, Shelly Manne and others.
Now with
the release of his seventh CD, Drum Lore Vol. 2 - More Lore, the follow up to
the critically-acclaimed, 2011 Juno Award Nominated, Drum Lore (on BJURecords),
Howard continues to celebrate and interpret music composed by drummers, and
also feature more of his own compelling compositions. Where Vol. 1 was
conceived as a studio recording of sorts, with each piece featuring a different
configuration and concept, the second installment of the Drum Lore project
gives the listener a taste of what the group sounds like in its working quintet
format, featuring Adam Kolker (soprano & tenor saxophones, bass clarinet),
John O'Gallagher (alto saxophone), Frank Carlberg (piano), Johannes Weidenmueller
(bass) and the leader Owen Howard (drums).
Drum
Lore Vol. 2 offers up seldom heard originals by Philly Joe Jones and Joe
Chambers, as well as popular works by Victor Lewis, Paul Motian and Tony
Williams. The remainder of the recording is comprised of recent original
compositions by the leader. Highlights include, "Hey, It's Me You're
Talkin' To", one of Victor Lewis' most well known compositions; Joe
Chambers' "Ungano" (from the Bobby Hutcherson Blue Note album,
Medina); "Haiku", a composition that Howard composed at the piano in
about ten minutes. "After stating the 5-7-5-syllable form, the soloists
are free to interpret at will. It's quite different each time we perform
it", said Howard; "Like Buttah","my take on rhythm changes,
which incidentally pays homage to Sonny Rollins' 'Oleo' (which was a butter
substitute back in the day)"; and "Got To Take Another Chance",
"a fun little piece by Philly Joe Jones that is based on the chord changes
of 'Take The 'A' Train'. I extracted the horn riff and ending bit from the Max
Roach/Clifford Brown version of 'A Train' (from the record, A Study in Brown).
I love Max's train ending on that cut. Straight up fun!," said Howard;
"Mumbo Jumbo" by the late great Paul Motian, and "Pee Wee"
by the legendary Tony Williams.
The birth of Drum Lore took place at a summer
jazz workshop where Howard was one of the several
"artists-in-residence". The drummer explains further, "As we
were getting ready for a discourse on the finer points of our various
approaches to composition, one of the participants said to me. 'Owen, why are
you here? You're a drummer, and this is a composition class? Well, how does one
answer a comment like that? Rather than being offended, I took it upon myself
to dispel this myth that drummers can't, or don't, compose." The brilliant
result was Drum Lore (released in 2010 on BJURecords), a recording of great
stylistic diversity, dedicated to exploring compositions exclusively by many of
the revered drummers of our time. As Joe Lovano has stated, "some of the
hippest bandleaders and composers in jazz, have come from the drum chair";
so many that Howard now offers Drum Lore Vol. 2, and has at least several more
CDs worth of music composed by drummers that he'd like to record, so be on the
lookout for the possibility of "Drum Lore, Vol. 3" in the future.
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