Drumspeak
Ken Serio | Tripping Tree Music (2008)
By Glenn Astarita
 comments        


New York area drummer/percussionist Ken Serio has packed gobs of musicality into a His mode of delivery sports an evolutionary outlook, partly due to his keen use of depth and space. With an arsenal of percussion implements, Serio pursues colorific and highly-rhythmic tone poems, featuring a layered approach and regimented patterns. 
On “Part II,” Serio uses an electric-slide guitar for a textural effect amid clashing cymbals and a heartbeat pulse, all spiced with an ethereal backwash of multihued sounds. Then on “Part III,” the artist employs hand drums, bells, shakers, and perhaps some MIDI-based processing effects to instill a sense of cosmic travel. But he pulls out the proverbial stops on Part IV, where his East Indian raga groove segues into a blitzing, mischievously, maniacal and polyrhythmic drum solo. 
Serio's jazz and jazz-fusion chops are shrewdly counterbalanced on this most compelling effort. You dont need to be a drummer to comprehend and enjoy the musicality he communicates during his four-part panorama, that parallels the rhythm of life. Unlike many of his peers who venture into these lone forays, Serio projects a complementary balance among innumerable factors and practices. Moreover, the artist provides a mini-clinic for aspiring percussionists. Hopefully this gem of a record wont go unnoticed
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SEQUENSA @! REVIEW


Ken Serio

Drumspeak

Tripping Tree Music 


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At first glance, you would think that a 4 movement, CD-length composition entitled Drumspeak would be inspired by Steve Reich’s Drumming. Well, of course it is. Any jackass can see that (to quote Brahms). Ken Serio, the composer and performer of all the parts, has created a smaller-scale one-man Drumming. Mr. Serio’s language seems more loop-based as opposed to process-based but I don’t think that is the real point of the piece. Each of the four parts has a more distinct character than the four parts of Drumming. There is a lot of pulsing and grooving but there is also a hefty amount of space, silence, and ambience. Those characters throughout the four parts of Drumspeak is what maintained my interest in this CD and Mr. Serio’s performances are quite compelling. 

Part I starts with a simple groove and, right around the time you think “When is this going to change?” it changes. Mr. Serio maintains a good pacing of events so that additions and shifts of the texture happen at just about the right time. Part II starts similarly to Part I, making you think that this is all one of the same piece. Quickly, though, new and different sounds emerge that put a more relaxed and ambient sound world around the cymbal drone. 

Part III, even more ambient and nebulous than Part II, was my favorite track. I think that this piece stands well on its own and could easily be performed by percussion ensembles without committing to the whole hour of Drumspeak. The various percussion timbres have their own sense of space and pacing which is rather refreshing from the solid beats of the previous two parts. 

Part IV picks up the pulse again and similar techniques to the first part. A ceramic drum emerges from the texture and then continues as a freeform solo for, I’m not kidding, seven and a half minutes (out of the 15 minute total length). I must admit that the ceramic drum’s entrance and the beginning of the solo had me quite engaged. I wasn’t sure how I had gotten to this point but I was glad that I was there. As it wore on, I found myself unable to follow the stream-of-consciousness solo. Others might stay engaged throughout, but I found myself yearning for the next entrance of the ensemble. Once the ensemble did come in it quickly turned into another stream-of-consciousness drum kit solo. I wasn’t sold on the musical motivation for such a solo to end the work. I like the juxtaposition of groove vs. ambient within one movement, but I think this idea needs more time to play out. 

I think that the balance/imbalance between pulsed repetition and free-form ambience is a vital part of Drumspeak and Mr. Serio balances these ideas across movements rather well. I find the juxtaposition of these elements to be refreshing and engaging. 

Posted: November 5th, 2007 under CD Review, Jay Batzner.
Comments: 1 

Comments
Comment from Robert Gardner 
Time: November 6, 2007, 12:00 am

Great review on a realy great cd! I Love this cd and encourage people to check it out.
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