Solo Drums, Open Room, Paris 1969
Andrew Cyrille alone at the kit, letting every cymbal ring out in a Paris studio.
What About? was recorded in Paris in August 1969, and it is a solo percussion record, which is an unusual thing to hear on a label like BYG Actuel. The session was built around one drummer and a set of drums, with nobody else in the room to fill the space. Andrew Cyrille had been working in the New York avant-garde and in bands with Cecil Taylor, and this was his first record under his own name. The decision to make it solo was a bold one for a first album, and it tells you a lot about where his head was.
The music rests on that choice. Cyrille treats the kit as a set of distinct voices and lets the cymbals and rims sound out before he moves on. Eugene Chadbourne, writing for AllMusic, called it a record with an overwhelming sense of love for the drum set, and that fits what you hear. The pieces move from slow, steady shuffling to more agitated playing, and the silence between strokes does real work. It is not a record of tricks. It is a drummer deciding what each sound should do.
As a place to start with Cyrille, this is more of an acquired taste than a first stop. If you want his playing in a group context, the trio and ensemble records are the better introduction. What About? is for listeners who already like drums as a melodic instrument and want to hear one player make a full argument with nothing else on the table.
Who's playing
Andrew Cyrillepercussion, solo
