Hamid Drake


Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free jazz improvisers. Drake also has performed world music; by the late 1970s, he was a member of Foday Musa Suso's Mandingo Griot Society and has played reggae throughout his career.
Drake has worked with trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Fred Anderson, Archie Shepp and David Murray, and bassists Reggie Workman and William Parker.
Drake studied drums extensively, including eastern and Caribbean styles. He frequently plays without sticks, using his hands to develop subtle commanding undertones. His tabla playing is notable for his subtlety and flair. Drake's questing nature and his interest in Caribbean percussion led to a deep involvement with reggae.

Early life

Hamid Drake was born in 1955 in Monroe, Louisiana, and when he was a child his family moved to Evanston, Illinois. There, he started playing with local rock and R&B bands, which eventually brought him to the attention of Fred Anderson, an older saxophonist who had also moved to Evanston from Monroe as a child decades earlier. Drake worked with Anderson from 1974 to 2010, including on Anderson's 1979 The Missing Link. At Anderson's workshops, a young Hamid met Douglas Ewart, George E. Lewis and other members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Another of the most significant percussion influences on Drake, Ed Blackwell, dates from this period. Drake's flowing rhythmic expressions and interest in the roots of the music drew like-minded musicians together into a performance and educational collective named the, which combined traditional African music and narrative with distinctly American influences.

Career

Don Cherry, who Drake first met in 1978, was another continuing collaborator. After meeting Cherry, Drake and fellow percussionist Adam Rudolph travelled with Don to Europe, where they explored the interior landscape of percussion and shared deeply in Mr. Cherry's grasp of music's spiritually infinite transformational possibilities. Drake worked extensively with him from 1978 until Cherry's death in 1995.
Drake was one of the founders, along with Foday Musa Suso and Adam Rudolph, of The Mandingo Griot Society. His other frequent collaborators include New York bassist William Parker, saxophonist David Murray, composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph, German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and drummer Michael Zerang. Drake has played and/or recorded with: Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Fred Anderson, Herbie Hancock, Archie Shepp, bassist William Parker, Reggie Workman, Yusef Lateef, Wayne Shorter, Bill Laswell, David Murray, Joe Morris, Evan Parker, Paolo Angeli, Peter Brötzmann, Jim Pepper, Roy Campbell, Matthew Shipp, Sabir Mateen,, Mat Walerian, Marilyn Crispell, Johnny Dyani, Dewey Redman, Joe McPhee, Adam Rudolph, Hassan Hakmoun, Joseph Jarman, George E. Lewis, John Tchicai, Iva Bittová, Ken Vandermark, and almost all of the members of the AACM. These diverse artists all play in a broad range of musical settings which allows Drake to comfortably adapt to north and west African and Indian impulses as well as reggae and Latin. Although engaged as sideman, he has also devoted his energies and creativity as a band leader; focusing on his own groups and projects such as and Indigo Trio.
Drake has frequently appeared with jazz legend Archie Shepp in various configurations. The most common is the group Phat Jam along with human beat boxer and rapper Napoleon Maddox. Drake also works with Maddox in the jazz hip hop group ISWHAT?!. Drake performs with European jazz groups, recording with Hungarian musicians such as Viktor Tóth and Mihály Dresch. In addition to the drum set, Drake performs on the frame drum, the tabla, and other hand drums.

Winter solstice concerts by Drake & Zerang Duo

Since 1991, Drake has collaborated with fellow percussionist Michael Zerang to present annual winter solstice concerts. Both musicians have been committed to return to Chicago, from wherever they may be performing, to stage the solstice event which commemorates the northern hemisphere's shortest day. About the winter event Drake has said,
Occasionally, including in 2020, the Hamid Drake & Michael Zerang Duo have also performed a summer solstice concert in Chicago. The duo has released two albums – Ask the Sun and For Ed Blackwell.

Partial discography

As leader/coleader

Emancipation Proclamation: A Real Statement of Freedom with Joe McPheeThe All-Star Game with Marshall Allen, Kidd Jordan, William Parker, and Alan SilvaHu: Vibrational Universal Mother Live at Okuden
;with BinduBindu Blissful Reggaeology
;with DKV Trio
;with Indigo TrioThe Ethiopian Princess Meets the Tantric Priest Anaya Live in Montreal
;with Mandingo Griot SocietyMandingo Griot SocietyMighty RhythmWatto Sitta
;with Adam RudolphContemplations12 ArrowsDream Garden
;with Pharoah Sanders and Adam RudolphSpirits
;with Irène SchweizerCelebration
;with Spaceways Inc.
  • See also: Ken Vandermark discography#with Spaceways Inc.
;with The Turbine! Entropy/Enthalpy
;Various duos

As sideman

;with Joshua AbramsMagnetoception
;With Fred AndersonAnother Place Dark Day ; reissue as Dark Day + Live in Verona The Missing Link The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 1 Destiny Birdhouse Live at the Velvet Lounge 2 Days in April Fred Anderson Quartet Volume Two On the Run, Live at the Velvet Lounge Back Together Again Blue Winter Timeless, Live at the Velvet Lounge From the River to the Ocean
;with BeansOnly
;with Albert Beger and William ParkerEvolving Silence Vol. 1 Evolving Silence Vol. 2
;With Black Top Some Good News
;with Peter BrötzmannBrötzmann/Drake – The Dried Rat–DogBrötzmann/Drake – Brötzmann/DrakeBrötzmann/Kessler/Drake – Live at the Empty BottleBrötzmann/Mahmoud Gania/Drake – The Wels ConcertBrötzmann/Moukhtar Gania/Drake – The Catch of a GhostBrötzmann/Kondo/Parker/Drake – Die Like a Dog: Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert AylerBrötzmann/Parker/Drake – Never Too Late But Always Too EarlyBrötzmann Chicago Tentet – Broken EnglishBrötzmann Chicago Octet/Tentet – The Chicago Octet/TentetBrötzmann Chicago Tentet – ImagesBrötzmann Chicago Tentet – Short Visit to NowhereBrötzmann Chicago Tentet – SignsBrötzmann Chicago Tentet – Stone/WaterBrötzmann/Die Like a Dog – Aoyama CrowsBrötzmann/Die Like a Dog – Close UpBrötzmann/Die Like a Dog – From Valley to ValleyBrötzmann/Die Like a Dog – Little Birds Have Fast Hearts No. 1Brötzmann/Die Like a Dog – Little Birds Have Fast Hearts No. 2Parker/Brötzmann – The Bishop's MoveDrake/Brötzmann/Hopkins – The Atlanta Concert
;with Rob BrownThe Big Picture
;with Roy CampbellEthnic Stew and Brew
;with Chicago Trio Velvet Songs
;with Marilyn Crispell and Peter BrötzmannHyperion
;with Scott FieldsFive Frozen Eggs Dénouement
;with Chico Freeman / George FreemanAll in the Family
;with Herbie HancockSound-System Jazz Africa
;with IsWhat?!You Figure It Out The Life We Chose
;with David MurrayGwotetLive in BerlinWaltz Again
;with Natural Information SocietyMandatory Reality Since Time Is Gravity
;with Painkiller50th Birthday Celebration Volume 12
;with William ParkerPainter's Spring Piercing the Veil – reissued in 2007 as Piercing the Veil + First CommunionO'Neal's Porch Eloping with the Sun – with Joe Morris and William DancedRaining on the Moon Scrapbook Sound Unity Summer Snow Corn Meal Dance Alphaville Suite I Plan to Stay a Believer Double Sunrise Over Neptune Petit Oiseau Essence of Ellington Wood Flute Songs Organic Grooves – Black CherryPalm of Soul – Jordan/Parker/Drake The Last Dances – Drake/Gahnold/ParkerHeart Trio — Parker/Drake/Cooper-Moore
;with Hugh RaginRevelation
;with Pharoah SandersMessage from Home
;with Irene Schweizer and Fred AndersonWillisau & Taktlos
;with Mako SicaRonda Balancing Tear Ourania featuring Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones
;with Steve SwellSwimming in a Galaxy of Goodwill and Sorrow
;with Malachi Thompson
;with David S. WareLive in the World
;with Yakuza