Complex Jazz-oriented drummers?

I want to apologize beforehand, if this post is somewhat long, boring, or pointless to anyone.

 

I am not sure if this would be the proper section to post such a request, and if it not, I do apologize.

Furthermore, I am in search of a complex, jazzy drummer, as every drummer I have known can only play in 4/4 time. The music I write has no modern influences in it, but rather that of:

 

King Crimson, Soft Machine, Yes, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gnidrolog, Hatfield & The North, Giles, Giles & Fripp, Gong, Egg, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Magma & Jethro Tull, as far as progressive rock goes (this does not mean that I try to imitate any of these bands).

 

In addition, I am also influenced by the more obvious (and not so progressive, although some are somewhat progressive):

 

The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, The Moody Blues, The Byrds, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young, The Jimi Hendrix Experience & Bob Dylan & The Band.

 

Albeit, I do not like to add mainstream-sounds to my music (such as the previous list of bands). Basically, if my music was published, it would most likely not be played on the radio, due to length, and the fact that it is not something everyday people would listen to (i.e. King Crimson, Yes' longer pieces, Pink Floyd's early material, and probably the rest of the first set of bands I named).

 

Location does not matter, as I am looking to travel anyways. But if you are not in a band, or a serious one, and what I have written interests you, please contact me and perhaps we could conversate about music in general.

 

To further describe myself, I play guitar, bass, keyboard, flute and create tape music (avant-garde, concréte) on a vintage reel to reel tape machine. I also write poetry, which would be used in place of standard lyrics (it is usually, but not always philisophical (i.e. space, time, meaning, etcetera). I am not looking for other musicians other than drummers, unless they are multi-instrumentalist and their main instrument are the drums.

 

I fuse rock, jazz, classical, psychedelic and avant-garde music.

 

And finally, in addition to the bands that I have listed above, here are the last of my influences (just so you can get a good idea of the type of music I am interested in):

 

Jazz:

 

John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, Sonny Clark & Hank Jones.

 

Classical:

 

Fryderyk Chopin, Ludwig Van Beethoven & Felix Mendelssohn

 

&

Avant-garde:

 

Karlheinz Stockhausen, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Morton Subotnick & Edgard Varèse

Im a drummer from Norway who loves playing in odd times and intericate beats. I still live in Norway though..

Hi Aleister,

Whether you are looking for drummers to play with, or for people who share your tastes in music, I'm sure you'll find plenty of either category here. Welcome to Progarchives!

Hello Portier, i see you have good taste in music and i think is not very hard to find a jazz drummer ( a complex one as you said) and specialy in USA. I was a jazz drummer 'til i get married 5 years ago. My band was called  Pilgrims. My influences was at that time and still i like to listen among others bands like

Of course. I have listened to some of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's albums, but I must say that I prefer John McLaughlin in his work with Miles Davis (e.g. In A Silent Way, and the brilliant Bitches Brew).

Aleister Portier wrote: Thank you both for your kind responses. BJ-1, I have listened to both Henry Cow (e.g. Leg End or: Legend, Unrest) and Univers Zero (only Heresie). I first came to hear Univers Zero from listening to and reading about Magma. I am very much interested in the avant-garde, whether it be in music, art, film, etcetera. If you would BJ-1, could you possibly private message me your email so that we may further talk about our interests with the avant-garde?   Good day.

Aleister, your post is neither long, boring nor pointless... however, my reply might be :
I couldn't play the drums for the life of me and, although you like traveling, I guess Paris/France may a bit too far for your taste ;-)

So why do I bother posting here ? Well, just because your musical tastes are very eclectic (not to mention excellent) and I really hope you do find the drummers of your dreams so that, eventually, we might get the chance of hearing your music !

Personnaly, I sure wish I was as talented as you !

Best of luck & Keep on progging

If you ever move to Toronto, Ontario, I'd consider doing a project with you as I'm a highly-experienced drummer who loves complex beats and also has an eclectic taste in music.  Although I'm not the one to travel great distances.

agProgger wrote: I appreciate the old prog, and I listen to a good bit of it, but it always makes me wonder why people bother putting together new projects in this vein.  The point of music, in my opinion, should be to convey some sort of message, be it a story or a set of principles about life.  Part of that leadership is know your audience -- it would be virtually impossible for any band set up in the vein of the old classics to have any influence on anyone outside of a very, very small circle.  It's just self-indulgence.Granted, I am a drummer who can play complex beats, and I have pretty eclectic tastes, but I'm not going to go driving down a bridge to nowhere.  I can respect you as a musician, but we must look beyond ourselves and our own ambitions and see how we can influence the world.  If we don't do that, then why were we ever alive?

Woah there. There's always room for new music. Being influenced by older bands is not the same as wanting to copy them or set up in the same way.

P.S.: A mind is nothing if it isn't receptive to others' ideas or other possibilities. Those who don't have open minds are bound to be ignorant, stubborn, out of touch with reality, and unintelligent. Do you really think that "An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded"?

Sorry, I should have elaborated further, because I thought this might be your response.  I'm glad you were open about the response, though, because I know some people could have gotten defensive given my post.

I love prog, don't get me wrong, and I, too, want to create a progressive band, but I don't want to draw all my influences from the old prog bands and set up in their style, because, in my mind, that is a violation of what prog stands for.  To me, prog is more of a commitment than a style.  You commit yourself to put forth additional effort and go further with your music than your average band.  It's like the Gifted and Talented program for the music world.

I don't want money as a musician, either; I do, however, want to change people's lives.  I want my presence to be felt.  This means dedicating myself to working hard on song structure, lyrics, etc., so that it is not complexity merely for complexity's sake, but so that it all communicates more effectively what I am trying to portray.

I think some of the best bands in this regard are Tool and Porcupine Tree.  Tool -- like it or not -- has had a tremendous impact on a large number of people's lives, despite (or rather, because of) their compositional and lyrical complexity; however, they compose their pieces in such a manner that is captivating and entrancing even to large portions of the average population.

The reason I'm suggesting that you not play the old progressive rock style is because only a niche crowd of people actually enjoy that music now, immediately limiting your effectiveness.  You can still be progressive without sounding like the people of the 70's.  Of course, maybe you should define your goals; if you're trying to influence musicians moreso than listeners, then maybe your project is a worthy venture, because that's just about all I find that experimental projects are good for these days.  If you have any ideas that you're trying to put forth to inquisitive minds, then do something that spurs on their inquisitiveness, so that it draws them in to unravel more and more layers of complexity.  Give them a reason to listen, instead of expecting just the intellectually elite to listen to and enjoy your music.  If you just make smart people think, what have you accomplished?  Those smart people were already thinking -- you just want their attention.  If you make people who weren't already thinking start to do so, then you have accomplished something.