Although you may be less familiar with Aaron Seeber than with the other artists on this live recording, you will immediately recognize the tradition of jazz drumming in his steady and sure cymbal beat.

A native of Washington D.C. whose visibility on the New York jazz scene continues to rise, Seeber is both studied in the recorded legacy of his instrument and equipped with over a decade of on-the-bandstand experience.

Among his influences are the greats we evoke on a first-name basis—Roy, Max, Billy, to name a few—as well as lesser-known masters who are just as worthy of deep respect: Connie Kay, Mickey Roker, Otis “Candy” Finch.

At first glance, Seeber’s quintet may look like an all-star assembly, but each of these established artists has a history with the young drummer. As a teenager, Seeber went to see saxophonist Tim Green throughout the D.C. metro area, and by the early 2010s Green started hiring him for gigs.

Many of Seeber’s first major performances were with Green, including weekends at the legendary Bohemian Caverns club where Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, and many others appeared. It was on a Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra date that Seeber first played with and met vibraphonist Warren Wolf, a native of Baltimore. Beyond the musical and professional experience, Seeber credits Wolf for his first opportunity to travel and perform abroad during a tour of Europe in 2015.

Pianist Sullivan Fortner may be most widely known from his work with star vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, but musicians on the scene recognize him as an agile and unpredictable improviser who raises the stakes in any musical setting. Seeber first worked with him at New York City’s Fat Cat in the band of trumpeter Greg Glassman, and he has been calling Fortner for gigs ever since. Bassist Ugonna Ukegwo and Seeber began playing several years ago and are frequently heard together in pianist Pete Malinverni’s trio.

Brandyn was composed by one of Seeber’s heroes, Al Foster, and it was a theme song for Seeber’s long standing residency at Smalls Jazz Club. The effervescent drum groove on the introduction sets the tone for the performance, with Wolf and Green digging into their solos with unmistakable relish.

Out of the Past, composed by Benny Golson for Dizzy Gillespie’s 1957 modestly-titled recording The Greatest Trumpet of Them All, is a chestnut that has come into wider circulation in recent years. Fortner takes the lead with a two-handed modern style that pushes and pulls the time against the unshakeable foundation set by Okegwo and Seeber. Wolf follows and shines in a sequence of quicksilver figures, while Okegwo takes his lone solo of the set with a concise and elegant improvisation.

The Eleventh Hour pays tribute to the late Mulgrew Miller, who had employed Green and Wolf in his band. On the longest tune of the set, both Wolf and Green contribute spirited improvisations spurred on by Fortner’s piano dialogue and the fiery instigations of Seeber, who isn’t afraid to ratchet up the tension. It isn’t obvious from the recording, but much of Fortner’s solo was done in the left hand only (to the awe and dismay of musicians in attendance). Seeber’s extended drum solo demonstrates his facility around the kit, and astute listeners will notice an homage to drummer Billy Hart in some of these rumbling figures.

Charles Mingus’s Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love splits the melody between Wolf and Green, with a marvel of spontaneous orchestration by Fortner and dramatic inflections from Seeber, who helps shape the performance from the drums. Also noteworthy is the slight change in the melody at the end of the bridge, which lends a coy air to the proceedings, as well as the conclusion on the penultimate chord, not the unresolved final chord as on the original.

First Move is Seeber’s take on the mysterious and propulsive sound of Wayne Shorter’s music as heard with the Miles Davis Quintet of the mid-1960s. Featuring a modal burn at the top with a brief release in triple time, Green and Wolf turn in maximalist solo improvisations while the drummer gets some and more on the outro.

Geri Allen’s Unconditional Love is a welcome turn at this point in the set, with tasteful solos from Fortner and Wolf as well as a river of shimmering drumming from Seeber. The extended blues-tinged vamp at the end of the vibraphone solo lends itself to a captivating dialogue with piano and drums before the concluding melody statement.

Fire Waltz by pianist Mal Waldron is a nod to another inspiration and mentor, drummer Billy Hart, who recorded it in 2009 for his album Sixty-Eight. Moving from keeping time to playing with space and placement, Seeber encourages the soloists to take risks: Wolf takes off with brisk lines and characteristic fluency while Fortner conjures the spirit of Waldron in a percussive, jagged improvisation that illustrates how the blues and avant-garde coexist on the spectrum of Black American music. Green also gets a pleasantly surprising solo turn on the outro.

The set ends with a bright rendition of Charlie Parker’s Klactoveedsedstene. Taking his most impassioned solo of the set, Green weaves casually virtuosic lines for several choruses while nodding to Parker with a brief fragment of Bird’s “Buzzy” at the end of the first chorus. Not to be outdone, Wolf grabs the baton and unleashes a whirlwind of be-bop and blues before Fortner takes over, punctuating accents between two hands and slipping in Chick Corea’s “Matrix” at the end of his first chorus. An episode of dynamic drum trading ensues before the head out, which concludes with a burst of solo drums à la Max as on the original recording.

Kevin Sun
January 2022
New York