Drums of Steel
Drums of Steel: Jonathan Scales Fourchestra | Character Farm and Other Short Stories
Led by classically trained composer and steel drummer Jonathan Scales and supported by the sounds of flat-pick fusion bassist Cody Wright, blues guitarist Duane Simpson, and jazz/rock drummer Phill Bronson, The Jonathan Scales Fourchestra produces a breed of jazz unlike anything you’ve heard. On its third instrumental album, Character Farm & Other Short Stories, the quartet once again debunks the stereotypical association of steel drums with tropical island music.
The album opens with an intimate eight-minute track, “Jam We Did” that features a poignant prelude, and delivers with a progressive, yet dreamy, harmony. Songs like “Complete” and “Halluciantions of the Dream Chasers” delve into the steel pan’s jazzy applications. The album features a bundle of guest performers, including saxophonist Jeff Coffin of Dave Matthews Band and Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Yonrico Scott and Kofi Burbridge from The Derek Trucks Band, and bluegrass fiddler Casey Driessen. Accompanied or not, Jonathan Scales Fourchestra has a knack for fast, tight tunes, and bringing balance to complex rhythms. www.jonscales.com