Projects

THE FOREST

The Forest is a cooperative percussion ensemble featuring Gustavo Aguilar, Leah Bowden, Andrew Drury, and Michael Wimberly—four artists who possess deep experience with collective performing, improvising, and composing, all while in dialogue with a range of African, Asian and Indigenous diasporic practices, among other approaches and philosophies.

From 2022 to 2024 the Forest has done four US tours that included performances in ten cities and venues such as Roulette, Lincoln Center, Krannert Art Center (Champaign), Edgefest (Ann Arbor), Globalquerque (New Mexico), Cal Arts, Bread & Salt (San Diego), plus a three day residency with Warren Smith at Smith’s alma mater, the U. of Illinois. The Forest has also led masterclasses in nine universities, workshops with community organizations in nine cities, and improvisations at the US/Mexican border fence and in the Cascade Mountains.

The Forest’s debut recording—(D)RUMINATIONS (Different Track Recordings)—was called “an astonishing debut,” “cinematic,” and “a breathtaking recording” by Marc Medwin of the NYC Jazz Record. (D)RUMINATIONS features special guests Warren Smith (percussion) and J. D. Parran (multiple wind instruments), . LEARN MORE

ANDREW DRURY’S CONTENT PROVIDER

Content Provider is Drury’s quartet featuring Ingrid Laubrock and Briggan Krauss (saxophones), Brandon Seabrook (guitar), and Drury himself (drums/percussion/composer). The group has recorded two cds of Drury compositions, Content Provider (2015) and Try (2018) and has performed at Edgefest (Ann Arbor), Roulette (Brooklyn), and other East Coast venues. The self-titled cd, “Content Provider,” was named a “Top Ten CD of 2015” by NYC Jazz Record editor Andrey Henkin.

ANDREW DRURY TENTET

Formed after a performance at Roulette in 2015 performers have included Jason Kao Hwang (violin); Stephanie Griffin and Melanie Dyer (viola); Tomeka Reid, Thomas Ulrich, and Christopher Hoffman (cello); Ken Filiano and Brandon Lopez (bass); Thomas Heberer and Stephanie Richards (cornet/trumpet); Ku-umba Frank Lacy (trombone); Briggan Krauss (alto saxophone); Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone); JD Parran (conta-alto clarinet and flute); Brandon Seabrook (guitar); Alexis Marcelo (piano); and Andrew Drury (drums/percussion/composer).

A 29 minute, work-in-progress excerpt of the work-in-progress music film, What It All Can Be, is viewable HERE.

ANDREW DRURY SOLO

Drury’s solo work explores the drum set, percussion with found objects (natural and human-made), extended techniques, and other manipulations of the performance environment (video, spatialized sound, setting, etc.) and incorporate words and socio-political themes.

Solo performances have been presented in urban performance spaces from Russia to Argentina to Cascadia, and at sites of environmental and human rights atrocity such as in proximity of clearcuts and mountaintop removal, the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington State, at a 30th anniversary memorial of the Tiannanmen Square massacre with survivors of that event, and in front of the Clint, Texas concentration camp for immigrant children.

Drury’s solo work is featured on two cds—Renditions (2009) and The Drum (2015)—on an unreleased recording from 1999, As We Speak.

EARTH SERIES

A subset of Drury’s solo work, the Earth Series is an ongoing series of improvisational, ritual performances that have taken place in desert, mountain, prairie, and other outdoor settings in the western US. 25 were performed in eight States between 1989 and 1995 and six more were performed in 2019. Additional Earth Series events, involving more musicians, were being planned for 2020 before the pandemic necessitated a change of plan.

WARREN SMITH

Drury has worked with Warren Smith in several connections, including a duo video with multi-percussionist Warren Smith, improvising in Smith’s Studio in the Bronx. Video by Sara Pettinella.

Drury/Smith 1: https://vimeo.com/663234956

Drury/Smith 2: https://vimeo.com/660329892

Warren also performs as a guest on (D)RUMINATIONS by The Forest. The Forest has several Warren Smith compositions in its repertoire.