Gerry Hemingway

Drummer/percussionist Gerry Hemingway is perhaps best-known for his work with the Anthony Braxton Quartet, a challenging and groundbreaking ensemble viewed by some critics as comparable in importance to the classic modern jazz quartets led by John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Hemingway joined the Braxton quartet in 1983 and occupied the drummer's chair for 12 years, recording with the band on various labels and making numerous club, concert, and festival appearances internationally. However, Hemingway's membership in the Braxton quartet has not been the only high-water mark in his career. While still drumming with Braxton during the early '90s, Hemingway began coming to prominence as a bandleader in his own right, heading a "transatlantic quintet" including American Mark Dresser from the Braxton quartet on bass, as well as three musicians based in Amsterdam: cellist Ernst Reijseger, trombonist Wolter Wierbos, and saxophonist/clarinetist Michael Moore. Hemingway played drums and percussion and composed all of the quintet's original material, which can be heard on a number of acclaimed CDs. Hemingway disbanded the quintet after 12 years, citing the "formidable cost" of bringing the Netherlands musicians to North America. At the 1997 New York Jazz Festival, Hemingway premiered a new quartet with a shifting lineup drawing from a core group of musicians based in the United States. Quartet musicians included Ray Anderson or Robin Eubanks on trombone, Ellery Eskelin on tenor saxophone, and Mark Dresser or Michael Formanek on bass.
Hemingway has also made forays into the world of contemporary classical music. He received commissions to write "Contigualis" for string quartet and "The Visiting Tank" for string quartet plus live electronics. These compositions were recorded in February 1999 at Merkin Hall in New York City along with two other works ("Aurora" for sextet and "Circus" for quintet), which were revisions of earlier commissions. Performances and recordings of solo percussion and electronic music have also been part of Hemingway's artistic endeavors for the past 20 years. In 1996, Random Acoustics released Electro-Acoustic Solo Works (84-95) and Acoustic Solo Works (83-94), a pair of CDs documenting this facet of his career. ~ Dave Lynch