Drummer Ben Perowsky:
Fresh Forms
by Michael Azerrad

Part 1: Playing Melodically / Body Motion / Drumming Economy
Behind his old Gretsch kit, Ben Perowsky resembles a man happily tossing a salad. He plays with a miraculous minimum of motion, drawing immense dynamics, mind-blowing rhythmic complexity and a bewilderingly wide range of tones from the drums with the graceful economy of a black-belt. Perowsky is one of the most creative jazz drummers in New York -- and his busy itinerary has him working the world over.

Perowsky debuted on a 1988 live album with jazz-funk vibraphonist Roy Ayers recorded at London's legendary Ronnie Scott's; only 22, Perowsky had rehearsed exactly once with the band -- and still tore it up. Since then, he's played with a diverse bunch of A-list musicians like Rickie Lee Jones, Walter Becker, John Cale, the Lounge Lizards, John Zorn, jazz guitar greats Pat Martino and Mike Stern, and Malian pop star Salif Keita.

Perowsky was born into jazz -- his father is saxophonist-arranger Frank Perowsky, with whom Ben was playing straight-up bebop by his early teens. But between the Led Zeppelin his brother cranked, his mom's Sly Stone records and the smorgasbord of sounds on the streets of his native New York City, young Ben soaked up a vast array of influences.

While he still plays bebop with Dad (album coming this fall) Perowsky has delved into a wide range of modern music, such as the urban jazz fusion of Lost Tribe, the prog-pop Fertile Crescent, the wonderfully uncategorizable Spanish Fly, ambient trip-hop unit Liminal and evanescent moodists Elysian Fields. And check out his uncanny drum‘n' bass drumming in the electronica documentary Modulations.

It's like his trio with bassist Scott Colley and saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed (Ben Perowsky Trio, Jazzkey) or his work in Speed's trio on their new album, Iffy. Perowsky's compositions are steeped in the new downtown jazz style, and the fiery, telepathic band simply shoots them through the roof. The trio flaunts its varied roots with a groovy take on Pink Floyd's "Money," an exhilarating sprint through a Messiaen piece and an eloquent "In A Sentimental Mood." Visit perowsky.com for some sounds.

On a sleepy May afternoon, Perowsky sat down for a chat in a Lower East Side cafe, just before launching a month-long European tour with legendary jazz guitarist John Scofield.

Musician.com: Your drumming has a melodic approach. Where does that come from?

Ben Perowsky: I've always been attracted to melody. When I was studying jazz, I would sing along with the solos. And then later on I realized that I hadn't memorized what Philly Joe had played -- I could sing Trane's solo but I had no idea what Philly was playing.

Musician.com: But how do you play drums melodically? It's not a melodic instrument, right?

Perowsky: Oh, I beg to differ. I can definitely hear melodies when I'm playing. It's about phrasing, like the way a horn player phrases something. Certain drummers are more ‘drumistically' oriented -- you can tell they grew up in marching bands and they played this... drum language, and that's great -- I try to get that, too. Then there's drummers like Paul Motian where you don't hear that at all. Not to say that he doesn't have chops, but he plays musical phrases rather than paradiddles and ratamacues.

Musician.com: There's a lot of suggestion involved too.

Perowsky: Right, exactly -- ‘suggestion' is a good word. I can play a three-note phrase on the toms and ask five people to sing it back to me and I'll get five different takes on how it sounded. There are so many overtones on each drum and cymbal, depending on the way you hit them.

Musician.com: You play without flailing your arms.

Perowsky: If you've ever seen videos of old-school drummers, they don't move at all. I feel like if I'm moving too much, it's going to tire me out for no reason and maybe even get in the way of the sound I'm trying to get out of the kit. I recently saw Jack DeJohnette and he was playing more stuff than most people can ever imagine and he never moved his upper torso -- unless he was twisting to play one of the two or three floor toms he had [laughs]. Philly Joe was just straight up. Even Elvin Jones, he doesn't flail his arms that much, Art Blakey... Those are the guys that I watched.

Musician.com: Did you see those guys in person?

Perowsky: Yeah. My dad took me when I was very young and then I went by myself. I saw Philly Joe play a lot and Art Blakey even more than that. I really watched those drummers in person a lot. I also watched a lot of Keith Moon on film. I wish I had seen him live -- he was incredible. I guess I'm kind of old school.

Musician.com: What's the challenge of leading a band from the drums?

Perowsky: If I were a trumpet player, it would be easier to cue things, being at the front of the stage instead of the back. Even Art Blakey had a musical director who would cue things. So that's a challenge for me, to establish that role and get people to look up and take cues from the back.

Musician.com: Your father's influence is obvious. But how about your mother, who was a ballet dancer?

Perowsky: Well, she was the one with all the Sly Stone records. She had a really cool record collection.

Musician.com: I thought maybe the dance thing...

Perowsky: Not really. I appreciate dance. I go see dance and sometimes I'll do music for dance. But musically, it was her records.

Musician.com: Drumming is like dancing...

Perowsky: I definitely suggest to any drummer to go out dancing. You have to be in touch with your limbs in order to make them come down at the right time. Or just stomp your feet and clap your hands.

Musician.com: What's the best advice anybody's ever given you about drumming?

Perowsky: When we were making the Fertile Crescent record, [producer] Roger Moutenot said something that always stuck with me. I was a lot younger and I had Roger up on this pedestal -- ‘Wow, this guy engineered Bill Frisell records!' So I asked him for some advice as a drummer and he just said to get everything centered so things come down together. Especially in a pop context, that is so important. I can't remember exactly how he said it, but it always stuck with me as something to go for. It's got to feel good. It can't be skipping all over the place