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Catalog reference number: IPS 0603.
CD release date: June, 2003. Out of print.
Digital released on Bandcamp
January 31, 2020.
« The drummer is the musician's best friend. »
« This hackneyed saying of musicians everywhere
was my declaration of intent, at least in the sense of my
own contrary interpretation : a droll way to convey what
I consider the role of a drummer, not only as " warden
of rhythm ", but also as tunesmith and composer.
I started thinking of the drummer in these terms long before
now. Back in Etron Fou Leloublan, I'd written several "
songs for drums ", very different in conception from
the infamous drum solos of the time, which drove audiences
(by dint of sheer ennui) en masse to the bar. Les Batteries,
formed in 1984 with Rick Brown and Charles Hayward, extended
my thinking about drums, as here was a trio of drummers
writing " short pieces for drum kit ".
In taking this line of thought still further, the idea of
inverting the role of drummer vs. other musicians sounded
promising : constructing a piece of music by starting with
a strict rhythmic ground plan, as opposed to the customary
approach of attaching a drum part last. This is what I set
out to do with The Drummer Is The Musician's Best Friend.
How each participant dealt with the " constraint "
I imposed to him made for the intringuing and happy listening,
and I have to say that the quality of results was everything
and more that I'd hoped for.
I recorded 14 items on drums and sent them around the
world to 14 musicians, who had total liberty to work with
my rhythmic blueprint in whatever way they chose. Each item
was composed with a particular musician in mind..... in
order to be as immersed as possible in each player's unique
vision... and also to pay homage to some musicians I very
much admired.
For diverse reasons, 3 of the 14 musicians had to abandon
the project, unfortunately ! The remaining 11 pieces comprise
musical post cards from friends the world over. Thanks again
to all those who lent themselves to the game !
At the last minute, I decided to round off this CD with
one of the three " orphaned " tracks. Some listeners
may enjoy speculating as to who the original recipient had
been... and I invite all musicians to take up the challenge
of this proposition in rhythm and send me their " finished
" item on CD-R (Guigou Chenevier, Inouï Productions
26 rue des Teinturiers, 84000 Avignon, France). Maybe someday
I'll have the material for yet another CD, " X "
Variations on a Theme.
Dear friends of the drummer, the next move is yours ! »
Guigou Chenevier, April 17, 2003
(translation by Jonathan Thomas)
Co-production between Inouï Productions, Studio Centre
Culturel André Malraux-Musique Action, Scène
nationale de Vandœuvre-Les-Nancy
With the partnership of the region Provence-Alpes-Côte
d'azur.
1. A l'horizon que du Bleu (Momo ROSSEL)
2. Too good too (Rick BROWN)
3. The first day (HACO)
4. Ça s'est passé au Nunavut (Jean
DEROME)
5. Eggs, salt, vanilla (Sue GARNER)
6. Odd or even (Kenji ITOKEN)
7. Un jour, la nuit (Nick DIDKOVSKY)
8. Pluie de cendres (Kevin NORTON)
9. Moi, un oeil, roi des aveugles (Ik, éénog,
koning onder blinden) (Han BUHRS)
10. Le retour du Percuppsala (Lars HOLLMER)
11. Palimpset (Jonathan THOMAS)
12. Drones and drolls (Guigou CHENEVIER)
Guigou Chenevier : drums & percussions recorded by
François Dietz at CCAM-Musique Action studio, Vandœuvre-Les-Nancy,
september 2002.
With the friendly musicians :
1. Shirley Hoffman : tuba, voice, Momo Rossel
: violin, accordion
2. Rick Brown : keyboards, sequencer, rhythm box,
percussions and claps
3. Haco : voice, electronics, effects
4. Jean Derome : jeu de colliers, cowbells, ventilateur
portatif, 3 jawharps, modified goose, piece of wood, appeau
à grive, trompinette basse, grelots de carriole,
hochet, 2 piccolos, Gauthier 2002, Sh-3A and Casio VL-Tone
5. Sue Garner : bass, guitar, voix, electronics treatments
6.Kenji Itoken : cowbells, toy-glokenspiel, xylophone,
melodica, Sh 101
7. Nick Didkovsky : guitar and bass
8. Kevin Norton : vibraphone (Bice), marimba, cymbals,
triangles
9. Han Buhrs : voice, effects
10. Lars Hollmer : accordion, keyboards, piano, melodica
11. Jonathan Thomas : casio and cans
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