Nasheet Waits is the son of Freddie Waits, a working drummer who played with everyone from Marvin Gaye to McCoy Tyner, so you'd think he grew up destined for the drum chair. Maybe he did. But what he actually built for himself is a sound that doesn't sit comfortably in one lane. He can swing as straight-ahead as anybody, but he's just as happy to let a groove wobble, stretch, or collapse entirely if the music asks for it.

The gig most people know him from is Jason Moran's Bandwagon trio, where he and bassist Tarus Mateen spent two decades building one of the tightest, strangest rhythm sections in modern jazz. Listen to Modernistic (2002) or The Bandwagon (2003) and you'll hear what I mean — Waits isn't just keeping time, he's commenting on it, nudging phrases off the beat and then snapping them back like nothing happened. That record alone will tell a curious listener most of what they need to know about him.

He's also spent serious time in rougher, freer terrain. His work with pianist Andrew Hill put him next to one of the most unpredictable writers in jazz history, and that experience shows up everywhere else he plays — a willingness to leave space, to not fill every bar just because he can. With Tarbaby, the collective trio he co-leads with bassist Eric Revis and pianist Orrin Evans, he gets to push even further into open, confrontational territory, trading the polish of a piano trio gig for something closer to a conversation that might turn into an argument.

What makes Waits worth seeking out isn't flash. He's not a drummer who dazzles you with technique for its own sake. He listens hard, reacts fast, and treats the drum kit like a voice in the band rather than a metronome standing behind it. If you want to understand what a modern jazz rhythm section can do when nobody in it is playing it safe, start with him.