The Larry McDonald Story Part Three
Drums have been the pulse of the Black Atlantic experience since, well, forever. That pulse made it straight to Jamaica, where the drums kept so many effectively connected to
mother Africa. Rhythmic rituals - exotic and folk-soaked - are everywhere.
As further evidence, McDonald's "Backyard Business" taps Kumina drummers from Bath in Jamaica's St. Thomas parish. Kumina's roots go back to 1838, and one of their elite players, Bongo Shem weaves entrancement here.
In the early 1970's, McDonald led an advanced percussion ensemble named Truth. For his 21st Century album, McDonald is joined by former aider and abettor of
Truth, Mutabaruka, a living part of Afro-Jamaican music. A globally celebrated dub poet, Muta dreams and imagines along with McDonald on "Free, Man Free". The horrors of the slave trade lead to a triumph - a transcendent recapturing and rebuilding of what was thought was lost.
McDonald's 20 years of collaboration with poet Ras Tesfa moves "Drum Say" forward stealthily. Tesfa hiply hypnotizes, speaking as one with McDonald's conga in an astonishingly deep duet.
Toots (sans Maytals) comes out of Earth orbit for a moment here, only to ascend again on the unforgettable "What About the Children". This spirited embrace of the next generation gradually soars higher and higher, as mothers and fathers, sons and daughters join festively in spirit, in song and in soul.
The star power keeps up with Bob Andy, one of reggae's most sophisticated singer- songwriters ("Feeling Soul", "My Time", "Going Home", "Too Experienced"). On "You Got Jazz", Andy is in vocal command, maneuvering around Larry McDonald's wizened oral tribute to the history of jazz and Jamaica. Hearing McDonald speak on his heroes is enlightening - as is every moment of Drumquestra, in the deepest sense of the word.
What It All Means...
Just as a single listening to Drumquestra would be totally inadequate to comprehend this landmark work, so would one or two paragraphs be insufficient to sum up the album's significance.
The more you hear Drumquestra, the more there is to absorb. Producer Sidney Mills has channeled every ounce of spontaneity, improvisation and sonic satisfaction that reggae's most revered musicians lovingly give, to one of the world's most revered and accomplished percussionists. In 2009, there may be no purer concentration of reggae's founding fathers and mothers than what has been assembled on Drumquestra: A remarkable number of the genre's earliest pioneers are alive and well, at the top of their game, and mingling quite amicably here with music's rising stars.
You can hold up Larry McDonald's dedication to family, music, friends, history or a thousand other ideals as the drivers for Drumquestra, but really, why overthink it? This album, and McDonald's incredible legacy are all about the drum. His innermost union with the beat is on vivid display here. All we have to do to win this joy for ourselves is perform one simple act, as McDonald shares on "Drum Say":
"Listen to the drums. They will tell you everything. The drums will tell you all.
"Just listen."
-- David Weiss, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
About David Weiss ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ):
David is an NYC-based writer. He covers music and a wide variety of technology fields, in magazines, on the Web and for people and companies the world over. David is the NYC Editor of Mix magazine, a longtime contributor to Drum! magazine, and author of "Music Supervision" (www.musicsupervisioncentral.com). In addition, he produces and performs electronic music at Impossible Objects, check him out on iTunes or www.myspace.com/impossibleobjectsmusic.
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