The Larry McDonald Story Part Two

In recording Drumquestra, Larry McDonald had a vision: mix together musicians and friendships that spanned generations - the old, the not so young, and the younger - in an all-percussion ensemble. The goal was an album that would take ears into startling new places, while tapping into the inspiration that recognizes the drum as one of humanity's most primal sound sources.

The Players Come Together

Starting from there, McDonald had no problem encouraging Carl McLeod - known for 40+ years as one of Jamaica's top jazz drummers -- to lend his hands and feet. Despite the chronic arthritis that had sidelined him for nearly two years, McLeod was ready to be heard again: He jumped to abandon the solace of retirement in the Saint Andrew hills and enter the studio.

Brandishing an exquisite brand of swing and propulsion, McLeod has long served as an inspiration in and of himself. His style combines an incredible sense of lyricism and color with intricate touch and technique. McLeod makes the drums into a melody.

McLeod's collaborations confirm his place in Jamaica's jazz history. Check out this list: Wilton "Bra" Gaynair, Tommy McCook, Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, Roy "Bubbles" Borrows, Billy Cooke, Aubrey Adams, Cecil Lloyd, Ernest Ranglin, Nancy Wilson, and now Larry McDonald. They've all set their sights on Karl McLeod for his refined sense of rhythm and melodic focus.

McLeod had not seen or heard from Larry for nearly 32 years, In fact, he also hadn't seen Toots, Bob Andy and Stranger Cole for so long you would think the island was the size of a continent.

Following their reunion, another amazing Drumquestra moment was when master drummer Sly Dunbar arrived and met McLeod -- who Dunbar considers to be one of his heroes -- for the first time. The goodwill, warmth and camaraderie they established were selflessly exchanged, and the pair became inseparable for the rest of the session.

On kit #2, was Sly Dunbar -- undisputed global drumming hero. With his usual unhurried approach he kept metronome time, filling spaces with quick interjections and precisely placed accents for the songs "Head Over Heels", "Crime or Music", "Drum Say", "Tootie", and "Got Jazz?" It's a polyrhythmic excursion, drawing on texture and timbre for nuance. Dunbar simultaneously controls the weight of the beat, blending the fleet and the fluid with a rock-steady focus to give McDonald and the others extraordinary freedom.

With tradition and organic modernity, Drumquestra's umbilical connection to mother Africa is achieved with a mix of musical styles, each with guest performers who represent the scope and rich legacy of Jamaican pop music.

The curtain rises with the opening song, "Head Over Heels", where McDonald and Dollar Man aim straight at the hip hop/R&B audience. Hot on its heels, Shaza provides the vocals to "Brother man," a musically massive treatise on mankind's diversity.

Next up over a hot dance rhythm, everyone's on the guest list to a "World Party" hosted by Shaza. This up-tempo rhythmic workout is a joyous tribute to "Larry Mac" -- a diasporic trip across continents, countries and islands. It shakes its booty to artful vocals and beats over traditional percussion, a groovy exercise for the dance floor. Then cut to "No More", a laid-back multidirectional track where Shaza draws inspiration from the grand wizards of the Black Consciousness arts movement, the Last Poets.

On Drumquestra, veteran singer Stranger Cole steals the show on "Crime or Music" along with his son Squidly Cole, a drummer and talented producer, as their call/response vocals ride a percussive locomotive.

McDonald's almost peerlessly inventive rhythmic pulse is featured on the song "Tootie," Even more notably it transcends in "Mento in Three," which McDonald recorded using the walls of the appropriately named "Runaway Caves" to drum on. These caves, now renamed Green Grotto, were slave hideaways during Jamaica's colonial times.

Now, more than forty years after he first encountered them, they have set the master percussionist's creativity free: just one more resplendent ascent to the new world of sound that is Drumquestra.

STAY TUNED FOR PART THREE OF THE LARRY MCDONALD STORY.

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