A different drummer

Progressive percussionist featured in concert today

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Drummer Gerry Hemingway has set up this electronic drum studio for his time in Charleston during Spoleto. Hemingway will perform at Simons Center Recital Hall at the College of Charleston today at 6 p.m. June 6

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Gerry Hemingway uses a bass bow to produce a harmonic from a cymbal.

Over the years, the Wachovia Jazz Series has twisted and turned as it has sought beauty, truth and innovation.

Percussionist Gerry Hemingway has an off-the-beaten-path kind of program in store for his performance today in this year's Spoleto Festival USA. The solo concert promises to be very intriguing. There will be a mix of acoustic and electronic sounds, some recognizably swinging and others without a discernible back beat.

"Gerry is a composer," series producer Michael Grofsorean said. "What we have in him is not only a terrific percussionist, he also shows he has an ear for music. He will have a conventional drum set, but he'll have his own big bass drum, another snare drum and he'll use microphones and electronics to process live sounds through the instruments."

Hemingway arrived at this point musically on the heels of a long, varied career performing music with all sorts of influences and experiences.

During a conversation in his sun-dappled Ashley Avenue apartment Sunday, Hemingway talked about growing up in New Haven, Conn., and starting to play drums at age 10. He said he taught himself jazz drums by listening to Blue Note recordings on the radio. He also was heavily influenced by rock and roll and played in rock, blues and country bands.

"I had an omnivorous curiosity," he said.

After beginning to read Down Beat magazine at 16 and dabbling in the enigmatic music of John Coltrane and Sun Ra, Hemingway got exposed to Miles Davis' groundbreaking album, "Bitches Brew." "The fusion between rock and jazz was a bridge for me," he said. "I was working it out with records and radio."

At 17, a watershed event took place in Hemingway's life. He had placed an ad for work in Rolling Stone, and a Connecticut bass player who recognized Hemingway's local phone prefix came around to talk to him about it.

"He showed up with Tony," Hemingway said. Tony is Anthony Davis, composer of the featured opera at Spoleto this year, "Amistad." Hemingway said Davis was as taken with his record collection as anything else. They have been friends and colleagues ever since.

Davis brought Hemingway in as percussionist in the opera's orchestra, where he shone. On Wednesday, David Stahl, music director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and Tim Page, The Post and Courier's Spoleto critic, were having lunch with others at North Charleston's popular EVO Pizzeria. Among many other things, they briefly talked about Hemingway's excellent work with "Amistad." Page mentioned his admiration for Hemingway's work in general.

When asked about his take on being in the jazz section of the festival, Hemingway said, "I'm hard to categorize. I embrace too many things to fit into a box. I love the term jazz, though. It represents the assimilation of so many things. It has received so much information and thrived and grown."

He continues to thrive and grow in his own artistic pursuits, with today's concert as an integral part of his progression.