photo by Marek Lazarski

Monday, May 17
7pm CT
Streaming on YouTube
FREE, $10 suggested donation

Option Talks Music: Hamid Drake

An artist who needs no introduction, Hamid Drake is one of the most in demand musicians in modern music. With a discography more than a mile long and thousands of concerts performed in multiple countries, Hamid’s incredibly versatile and highly original approach to the art of percussion is an inspiration to us all. Tune in on Monday, May ,17rd at 7pm Chicago time to hear the discussion, ask questions in the chat, and listen to Hamid perform and discuss his decades long career in music.

 The Option series is presented as part of Experimental Sound Studio’s virtual concerts every Monday. Link to this program, with the interview led by Ken Vandermark, below.

About Hamid Drake

Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He lives in Evanston, IL but spends a great deal of time touring worldwide. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and avant improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free-jazz improvisers. Drake also has performed world music; by the late 70s, he was a member of Foday Musa Suso’s Mandingo Griot Society and has played reggae throughout his career. 

Drake has worked with trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Fred Anderson, Archie Shepp and David Murray and bassists Reggie Workman and William Parker (in a large number of lineups).

"[Drake's] mastery of pulse drumming, textural sculpting, hand drum techniques, reggae, funk and garage punk makes him one of the most articulate and linguistically advanced musicians on the circuit… Cecil Taylor once claimed that each man is his own academy. If that's the case, Drake is surely one of the mystery schools." - David Keenan, The WIRE