Steve Reid

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Steve Reid (born January 29, 1944 in New York City , † April 13, 2010 ) was an American drummer .

Steve Reid 2008

Biographical

In 1965 Reid received his BA degree from Adelphi University, Garden City / New York. He was the first jazz musician to receive (chaired by Nancy Hanks) the first National Endowment for the Arts grant. He was then a member of Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), American Federation of Musicians Local 802 of the AFL-CIO (since 1965), Black Music Association, and Jazz Foundation. He lived in Europe, first in Munich , the last few years in Lugano / Switzerland.

First recordings were made in 1961 with Martha & the Vandellas ("Heatwave" / Motown Records) in the Apollo Theater House Band under Quincy Jones . Since then, more than 30 recordings as a leader or sideman have followed. a. with Charles Tyler ( Saga of the Outlaws , 1976), Fela Kuti , James Brown z. B. ("Popcorn"), Sun Ra (Sun Ra's The Science Myth Solar Arkestra), and Miles Davis .

Until 1969 Reid lived in Africa for three years, where he a. a. gave concerts on behalf of several governments (e.g. from Nigeria , Liberia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Egypt). Since the 1970s he had his own label, Mustevic Records, for which he recorded albums such as "Nova" and "Rhythmatism".

From 2000 onwards numerous recordings with greats of the jazz scene in Europe followed, including "Waves", "Invitations" and "Spirit Walk" (2005 with Chuck Henderson and Ensemble) for Souljazz Records (London) around his trio with Boris Netsvetaev (St Petersburg / Hamburg) and Chris Lachotta (Munich) as well as "Live In Europe" (2002 with Lena Bloch , tenor saxophone, instead of Henderson) and "A Drum Story" (Solo 2003). Reid had regular appearances on the mainland (especially in Germany and Benelux) and in London (tour in November 2005), in April 2006 again a tour across the USA (New York, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles).

style

Reid's playing is heavily influenced by John Coltrane's African rhythms and modal harmonies . Perhaps his style is best described with the title of one of his LPs in the 1970s (now re-released by Souljazz Records): "Rhythmatism"!

Colleagues about Steve Reid

"Steve Reid is one of the greatest living drummers. He has played with Sun Ra, knew Coltrane, played at Motown. I mean this is a guy who at 19 was playing drums with Fela Kuti in Africa. It's a creative joy and honor to work with him. "
(Steve Reid is one of the greatest living drummers. He played with Sun Ra, knew Coltrane, played at Motown. Hey, this is a guy who played drums with Fela Kuti in Africa when he was 19. It's a pleasure and an honor to be with him to work.)
- Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) -

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary in The Guardian
  2. ↑ Jens Löckmann based on conversations with Steve Reid, also in the course of working together on "A Drum Story" and "Live In Europe"
  3. ^ Website of Souljazz Records in London (Great Britain), u. a. in the information on the albums "Spirit Walk", "Rhythmatism" and "Nova"
personal data
SURNAME Reid, Steve
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American drummer
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 2010
Place of death New York City