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The deep energy of drummer Henry Cole ....go to the link - The World Music report
The deep energy of drummer Henry Cole ....go to the link - The World Music report
About a week before his Chicago show, I had a chance to talk to Henry Cole, a Puerto Rico-born, NYC-based drummer about his newly-released album, the Afrobeat Collective, and the exports of some brilliant Caribbean music into the U.S. altogether. Here’s what came out of it. - WNUR
About a week before his Chicago show, I had a chance to talk to Henry Cole, a Puerto Rico-born, NYC-based drummer about his newly-released album, the Afrobeat Collective, and the exports of some brilliant Caribbean music into the U.S. altogether. Here’s what came out of it. - WNUR
The Checkout: Live From 92YTriBeCa, Featuring Henry Cole and the Afro-Beat Collective / Gilad Hekselman Quartet with Mark Turner (Wednesday) Presented jointly by 92YTriBeCa and “The Checkout,” an hourlong radio program on WBGO-FM (88.3), this series spotlights up-and-comers in a companionable double bill. In this case, that means Mr. Cole, a Puerto Rican drummer exploring the rhythmic affinities between Afrobeat and Caribbean music, and Mr. Hekselman, an Israeli-born guitarist pursuing a sleek vision of modern jazz, with an invaluable assist from Mr. Turner, the tenor saxophonist. At 8 p.m., 92YTriBeCa, 200 Hudson Street, at Canal Street, (212) 601-1000, 92ytribeca.org; $12 in advance, $15 on day of the show. (Chinen) - New York Times
The Checkout: Live From 92YTriBeCa, Featuring Henry Cole and the Afro-Beat Collective / Gilad Hekselman Quartet with Mark Turner (Wednesday) Presented jointly by 92YTriBeCa and “The Checkout,” an hourlong radio program on WBGO-FM (88.3), this series spotlights up-and-comers in a companionable double bill. In this case, that means Mr. Cole, a Puerto Rican drummer exploring the rhythmic affinities between Afrobeat and Caribbean music, and Mr. Hekselman, an Israeli-born guitarist pursuing a sleek vision of modern jazz, with an invaluable assist from Mr. Turner, the tenor saxophonist. At 8 p.m., 92YTriBeCa, 200 Hudson Street, at Canal Street, (212) 601-1000, 92ytribeca.org; $12 in advance, $15 on day of the show. (Chinen) - New York Times
The drummer Henry Cole plays brilliantly in the quartet of saxophonist and fellow Puerto Rican Miguel Zenón, a band responsible for my favorite jazz album of 2011 (Alma Adentro) and one of my favorites of 2009 (Esta Plena). This year, Cole released his debut album as a bandleader, an Afrobeat record called Roots Before Branches. As opposed to Zenón's new-school jazz swimming in Caribbean folkloric music, Roots is a Fela-Kuti-inspired dance party. It's the same drummer, but a different sonic setting, with a different sort of energy.
setting, with a different sort of energy.
Or is it really? Here's what Cole told JazzTimes contributor Fernando Gonzalez:
"There are some musicians today who consider themselves jazz musicians and would never go play a dance gig," says Cole. "Or, if you take a musician who plays dance music, he would never go to hear a jazz show because he'd find it very boring. Something I find important in this project is that it brings those worlds together. The music goes along and then there is an incredible solo with a section in 9/8 or whatever, but it goes right back to the danceable rhythm and the singing."
That sounds about right for Roots Before Branches, which features some of New York's best jazz and salsa improvisers. Except Cole wasn't talking about his own album — he was talking about his work with Zenón. Cole's new record comes out sounding unlike his compatriot's, but it comes from the same deep well of where Afro-Caribbean music and mainland jazz intersect.
- NPR
The drummer Henry Cole plays brilliantly in the quartet of saxophonist and fellow Puerto Rican Miguel Zenón, a band responsible for my favorite jazz album of 2011 (Alma Adentro) and one of my favorites of 2009 (Esta Plena). This year, Cole released his debut album as a bandleader, an Afrobeat record called Roots Before Branches. As opposed to Zenón's new-school jazz swimming in Caribbean folkloric music, Roots is a Fela-Kuti-inspired dance party. It's the same drummer, but a different sonic setting, with a different sort of energy.
setting, with a different sort of energy.
Or is it really? Here's what Cole told JazzTimes contributor Fernando Gonzalez:
"There are some musicians today who consider themselves jazz musicians and would never go play a dance gig," says Cole. "Or, if you take a musician who plays dance music, he would never go to hear a jazz show because he'd find it very boring. Something I find important in this project is that it brings those worlds together. The music goes along and then there is an incredible solo with a section in 9/8 or whatever, but it goes right back to the danceable rhythm and the singing."
That sounds about right for Roots Before Branches, which features some of New York's best jazz and salsa improvisers. Except Cole wasn't talking about his own album — he was talking about his work with Zenón. Cole's new record comes out sounding unlike his compatriot's, but it comes from the same deep well of where Afro-Caribbean music and mainland jazz intersect.
- NPR
2012 was a year of stimulating music made all of the more relevant by artists who poured out their hearts and souls in diverse and compelling ways. Younger voices emerged like pianist Robert Glasper and drummer Henry Cole to deliver contemporary visions through fresh personal and cultural influences . - All About Jazz
2012 was a year of stimulating music made all of the more relevant by artists who poured out their hearts and souls in diverse and compelling ways. Younger voices emerged like pianist Robert Glasper and drummer Henry Cole to deliver contemporary visions through fresh personal and cultural influences . - All About Jazz
Discography
ROOTS BEFORE BRANCHES
self production - coming September licence with Warriors records and distribution in Europe
Photos
Bio
Henry is definitely one of the greatest drummers I ever heard. – Claude Nobs (founder/general manager of the Montreux Jazz Festival)
Drummer Henry Cole is at the forefront of a growing wave of jazz innovation and cross-cultural rhythm in the 21st century. With his flexibility, grace and sheer power behind the drum kit, he has proven indispensable to the sound of some of the world’s most acclaimed jazz groups, including the Grammy-nominated Miguel Zenón Quartet (Awake, Esta Plena, Alma Adentro]), Grammy winner David Sánchez (Cultural Survival), the Edward Simon Trio, and the all-star quartet “90 Miles” featuring Sánchez, Stefon Harris and Christian Scott.
Henry is also asserting himself as leader of the Afro-Beat Collective, which releases its debut album Roots Before Branches in 2011. Drawing on the raw groove and momentum of Fela Anikulapo Kuti as well as the depth and complexity of modern jazz, Henry strives with the Afro Beat Collective to integrate all his varied influences, including Puerto Rican folklore, funk and R&B, jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythmic traditions.
The San Jose Mercury News praises Henry’s “explosively detailed” playing, and All About Jazz notes his ability to “make instantaneous, organic adjustments at every turn.” In an article for Modern Drummer titled “The Future of Drumming” (January 2006), Henry was cited as an outstanding young player to watch by illustrious fellow drummers Alex Acuña, John Riley and Antonio Sanchez. In a 2009 JazzTimes magazine feature, journalist Fernando Gonzalez explored Henry’s visionary approach, his translation of Puerto Rico’s street-style pandero requinto drumming to the drum set — just one example of Henry’s bridging of traditions and disciplines in the service of a unique individual sound.
Born in 1979 and raised in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Henry relocated to San Juan in 1999 to study classical percussion at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico. He began his jazz immersion at Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 1998, but soon returned to San Juan, where he became one of the most in-demand and influential jazz drummers on the island. There he gained pivotal, formative experience in the varied music scene of Old San Juan: “It was very small,” Henry recalls, “but it had all styles and genres, so it was easy to go from one to the other and learn from all. I was playing rock, salsa, jazz, electronic music, all in the same week. That’s college right there.”
During this time Henry worked extensively within and beyond the world of jazz, with artists such as Giovanni Hidalgo, Dave Valentin, Jerry Gonzalez, Danilo Pérez, Branford Marsalis, Luis Marin, William Cepeda’s Afro-Rican Jazz, salsa artists La PVC, the rock band Vivanativa and many more.
Relocating to New York, his current home base, in the fall of 2003, Henry received a scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music and study with the great John Riley. Since completing his studies, Henry has performed with the likes of Chris Potter, Adam Rogers, Drew Gress, the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Big Band, Ray Barretto, Orlando “Puntilla” Rios, Papo Vazquez, Perico Sambeat, Paquito D’Rivera, David “Fathead” Newman, Dave Samuels, the contemporary plena group Viento de Agua and many more. He has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, Mexico and Central America, Korea and Japan.
Besides his influential work with Miguel Zenón and David Sánchez — entailing appearances at the Village Vanguard and other world-renowned jazz venues — Henry can be heard on such fine recordings as Personalities by the Fabian Almazan Trio, Christian X Variations by Soren Moller with Dick Oatts & Kirin Winds, El Alquimista by Pete Rodriguez, and Rocket Science for Dummies by the electro/neo-soul group Astronauts of Antiquity. His work with dancer and choreographer Noemí Segarra includes the evening-length collaborative piece “De Rumbo De Rumba,” premiered at the Hostos Center for Arts & Culture in early April 2011. Henry also performs with Cuban-born, LA-based pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, who records for Quincy Jones’ Qwest label.
Henry is also a successful and sought-after educator, often substituting for his mentor John Riley at MSM and at SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music. His quartet has also taken part in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Rhythm Road” (a.k.a. “Jazz Ambassadors”) program, which involves concerts, master classes and lecture-recitals for musicians. In addition, Henry has provided master classes and clinics under the auspices of Carnegie Hall, Marsalis Music and other institutions. He is sponsored by Vic Firth sticks, DW Jazz drums, Latin Percussion (LP) and Zildjian cymbals.
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