Just when you think there’s nothing new under the drumming sun, someone like this veteran German player comes along and sheds new light on the craft. The fact that he plays with such blistering technique and sophisticated musicality only makes him that much more compelling.
By Ken Micallef
Whether supporting superstar German pop artist Jan Delay, conducting a clinic, or recording one of the dozens of albums he’s cut since the early ’90s, Jost Nickel plays with delicacy, subtlety, and skill. He also exhibits great invention, incorporating techniques like dead-sticking and grabbing/muting of cymbals, seamless 16th-note snare and bass drum rolls, complex full-set figures, and a panoply of flam-infused ideas.
