From time to time, I operate in the non-jazz word (or as I like to call it, "the darkside" ;-). While I was in NY this was very rare for me. I did some touring with guitarist Tim Reynolds' trio, TR3 which, although he sang and they were pretty much rock tunes, was still kind of related to jazz in that there were long, open vamps where I had a lot of room for expression. I also played in singer/songwriter Howard Fishman's band for a while and play on his CD, 'Do What I Want' which is more sonically related to jazz with more brushes, although less exploratory than TR3. Then there was Pyeng Threadgill's r&b-infused, groovy folk music, and Amy Kohn's pop-cabaret-classical-jazz-not-quite-sure-what-you'd-call-it. Although some of these projects were ongoing, while in NY I played jazz 99% of the time.
However, in Iceland it's a whole other story. People definitely think of me as a jazz drummer (which tends to happen when the largest bass drum you own is 18"), but I'm much more likely to get called for all kinds of work. Heck, I've even played with some of the country's best opera singers! That wouldn't have happened for me in NYC.
The reason for this is it's just such a small country, which is easy to forget after being here for a while. The population is only 300k, whereas Brooklyn alone has 2.5m. The fact that so much music is going on here is phenomenal, regardless of genre. However, it makes it difficult to continue the 99% jazz business model. There just aren't enough jazz fans to support Reykjavík's disproportionately large talent pool (although, we have people working on that). Most Icelandic musicians grow up with the understanding that if you want to be successful here you have to be versatile, and I think they're amazingly good at it.
Conversely, the jazz scene in New York is a world unto itself. For one thing, it's huge. New York is so big, with so many little neighborhood bars and restaurants that there is always some place to go play standards, and there are so many great musicians writing their own music that there is always a gig somewhere… albeit, not too well paid. In that sense it can feel like the jazz scene in NY is a self-sustaining organism. Thus, there isn't much emphasis on versatility (at least not stylistically) but finding your own unique voice as an improviser.
Luckily, I've been able to work in non-jazz contexts that require me to more or less be myself. So while I have had to expand my horizons, it still feels like people want me to take my own musical personality and channel it into the situation.
Which brings me to present day and the two current non-jazz projects I'm involved in right now. I'll be playing on Friday Dec. 4th with singer/songwriter/pianist Margrét Kristína Sigurðardóttir (known on stage as Fabúla) for the release of 'In Your Skin' which was a long time in the making… and a lot of fun. It was an adventure for me, getting to play all kinds of percussion. One track even features me on typewriter!
The other non-jazz project at the moment is a very unusual band called Thin Jim and the Castaways. The band is constantly changing, but the current line-up is 11 members in various combinations. There are 4 different lead singers depending on what the song requires. We just played at Cafe Rosenberg last night. The concert was professionally filmed so hopefully there will be YouTube postings in the future… and maybe even a DVD???
Otherwise, you can usually find me in the cellar of Cafe Cultura, where my 18" bass drum is right at home.
