Join us this Sunday, February 5th at 4pm, where the spirit meets jazz. Featuring Drumplay.
Cleveland-based world/jazz ensemble, Drumplay, has been performing for over thirty years with a Who’s Who of the area’s finest musicians. In a rotating collective, Drumplay creates “rhythmprovisations”, their word for spontaneous creativity. No two gigs are alike. Fusing elements of Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Middle Eastern motifs with a jazz sensibility, the band has released more than ten albums including being featured on numerous compilations. Some of their work features the poetry of the late Daniel Thompson, Cuyahoga County’s First Poet Laureate, whose words speak to the human condition on issues of homelessness and social justice. Before he forged his path as a poet, he was a Freedom Rider working on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s staff in the Sixties. The group continues to honor Mr. Thompson’s contributions to the Cleveland jazz and poetry scene by adding a spoken-word element to their performances. This will be the band’s return to Canada having first performed in Toronto at the North by Northeast Festival in 2000.
“We are: hand drummer, set drummer, bassist, and poet/trumpeter. We have two rules: no discussion about money before the gig, and absolutely no discussion about what we may play. If we play 15 songs, all of them are made up on the spot. We do not play ‘free jazz’. Our songs have structure, rhythm, and tonality. We just have to listen and see how those elements play out”.
