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A new-millennium funk and jazz master continues to draw inspiration from unexpected sources.
Terreon Gully plays funk like a latter-day Dennis Chambers, delivers heated bop in the styles of Max and Tony, navigates complex sticking with the verve of David Garibaldi, then morphs it all mad with the delay/sample/hold machinations of Photek and Squarepusher. Gully's regular collaborators include bassist Christian McBride, vocalist Dianne Reeves, and vibraphonist Stefon Harris, and recently Terreon appeared on pianist Will Bonness's Subtle Fire and Harris's Urbanus. But long before the drummer was a first-call fire starter for the jazz intelligentsia, he perfected his mighty skills in church.
"I came out of church drumming," Gully says. "But it wasn't like it is today, where church music means playing a fill every four bars. It was about being able to keep a pocket, helping the music build, and understanding the importance of a vamp and the emotions behind the music. And listening. Now it's a lot of fusion, and you can't tell the difference between church and R&B.''
Along with his mammoth groove concepts and knack for approximating the delays, whirs, and buzzes of drum 'n' bass, Gully plays with startling dynamics. "It's a combination of my being taught timpani, marimba, and concert snare drum and understanding all these subtle rhythms at pianissimo volume level, plus playing in marching band at quadruple...