Percussion and Stories From the Drum Country
Humair builds an album where rhythm is not timekeeping but storytelling, where every drum sound carries weight.
The first thing you hear is percussion not as pulse but as presence—Daniel Humair and Mani Neumeier creating textures that feel almost sculptural, space between each strike. George Gruntz's piano enters cautiously, testing the ground. Franco Ambrosetti's trumpet floats above it all, conversational rather than declarative. Nathan Davis on saxophone adds another voice to what becomes a genuine ensemble conversation, not a rhythm section plus soloists. The whole thing moves with a folk logic, patterns that repeat but twist, melodies that circle back but arrive somewhere different. It's warm and exploratory, never rushing. This is Humair's album in the truest sense—not a drummer's showcase (though there is Pierre Favre and Charly Antolini too), but a drummer thinking like a composer, using rhythm as narrative. The title promises folklore, and it delivers: not traditional music quoted, but traditional music's spirit of story, of rhythm as memory. Recorded in 1971, Drums and Folklore: From Sticksland With Love (1971) sits in an interesting pocket for Humair—early enough in his visibility as a leader that there's still hunger in the playing, but seasoned enough that he knows exactly what he wants. This is a record that rewards close listening, where the detail compounds over time. The rhythm sections breathe together in ways that most jazz ensembles never achieve, each drummer listening not to a click but to each other. It remains peripheral in the wider jazz conversation but essential for anyone interested in how percussion can function as melody and structure simultaneously.
Who's playing
Jimmy Woodebass
George Gruntzpiano
Nathan Davissaxophone
Franco Ambrosettitrumpet
Charly Antolinidrums
Pierre Favredrums
Daniel Humairdrums
Mani Neumeierpercussion
