Electric Jazz: 1985 (co-winner) It was a fairly typical Monday night at the Village Vanguard in New York City. The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was grooving along, supported as usual by the mellow swing of the drummer. In this particular band, the role of the drums isn’t so much to cut through as it is to blend, filling out the band’s sound with warm drum tones and well-chosen cymbal colors that seem to come from within the band’s sound rather than sit on top of it. And that’s exactly what listeners were hearing on this particular Monday night—even though Mel Lewis wasn’t there. Mel was in Europe. Danny Gottlieb was filling in at the Vanguard. A couple of months later, the Mahavishnu Orchestra did four nights at the Bottom Line. In that band, the drummer’s job is to propel, to excite, and to project through ear-splitting volume levels. Where the […]

January 1986 Issue