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| Drummer-Composer Devin Gray Presents Melt All the Guns II, the Second Release by his Melt All the Guns Trio, Featuring Trumpet Ace Ralph Alessi and, New to the Band, French Pianist Myslaure Augustin Drummer-Composer Devin Gray Presents Melt All the Guns II, the Second Release by his Melt All the Guns Trio, Featuring Trumpet Ace Ralph Alessi and, New to the Band, French Pianist Myslaure Augustin Melt All the Guns II— to be released digitally and on CD via Gray's Rataplan Records on October 4, 2024 — features 11 rhythmically intricate, melodically charged compositions by the drummer-leader, brought to vivid life by this trio of top-flight improvisers Gray, Alessi & Augustin will perform material from Melt All the Guns II and more on November 1 at London's Vortex, November 2 at Jazz Fest Berlin, and November 3 at Tube's in Graz, Austria "Devin Gray is a polymath: inventive drummer, intrepid composer, chief of a burgeoning record label. Gray continues his ascension with 'Melt All the Guns'… The title might suggest a recording where frustrations boil over into blurts and squeals. In fact, it' s just the opposite. The protest music that the trio makes is akin to meditative paintings, vivid in scope with microscopic-level attention to detail."— Brad Cohan / JazzTimes on the debut Melt All the Guns EP Devin Gray— doubly based in the dynamic, divergent artistic hubs of Brooklyn and Berlin — has made a name for himself over the past decade-plus as a drummer and composer of textural ingenuity, lithe groove and uncommon energy. He has led multiple bands in the studio and on the road, prime among them Dirigo Rataplan (featuring him alongside veteran luminaries Dave Ballou on trumpet, Ellery Eskelin on saxophone & Michael Formanek on double-bass) and Relative Resonance (with standout saxophonist Chris Speed, pianist Kris Davis & bassist Chris Tordini). Behind his solo album Most Definitely, Gray has also toured on both sides of the Atlantic playing unaccompanied drum shows of indefatigable imagination, with All About Jazz calling him "an amazing percussionist. " Another of Gray's key bands is Melt All the Guns, a trio project that first released an eponymous EP in 2021, with the group's name reflecting the frustration that so many have felt over the seemingly endless gun violence in the United States. Still, Gray experienced online pushback from gun enthusiasts from just the band name alone. Y et, as noted by actual jazz critics both in Europe and the U.S., this trio's music isn't shrill, nor is it depressed; rather, it's a subtle, intrinsic kind of protest music that resonates with the love of life, full of color, spirit and invention. Gray and virtuoso American trumpeter Ralph Alessi were complemented on the first release by top New York pianist Angelica Sanchez. For the full-length Melt All the Guns II— to be released via the drummer's Rataplan Records digitally and on CD on Oct. 4, 2024— Gray and Alessi are joined by a French pianist who might be a new name to many jazz fans: Myslaure Augustin (with her first name pronounced "Meez-Lor"). From hard-grooving opener "East Berlin 2024" to ruminative, balladic highlight "No More Walls " the album's performances brim with melodic hooks and rhythmic pull. Beyond the socio-political stance of the group's name and some of its song titles (whether "More Meritocracy" or "Audre Lorde Straße" which is named for a Berlin street that recognizes an American poet, feminist and civil-rights activist), the sensibility of this trio is "all about positivity, with the idea of exploring and sharing, " Gray explains. "Wordless music is more or less abstract, and the band name and song titles are just small, common-sense gestures, of course. But I think it's important to show that you have the courage of your convictions. " About Alessi — who put out his fourth acclaimed ECM album as a leader last year, building on a previous string of well-regarded indie releases — Gray says: "I've known Ralph since I met him in 2003 at a SIM [School for Improvisational Music] workshop in Brooklyn, where he was teaching alongside people like Geri Allen and Ravi Coltrane. I remember being floored by Ralph's playing, like, 'How is all this music coming out of this man?' In 2012, he subbed for Dave Ballou a few times in my Dirigo Rataplan quartet, and he played as if he had known my music for years. Now, with Melt All the Guns, Ralph helps set the tone in the studio, improving the compositions with every line he plays. The way he shapes the material melodically in the moment is always so creative — decades of experience and all of his incredible facility shining through. He adds real weight to a track like 'No More Walls, and in something like 'East Berlin 2024' or 'Swing States, ' he just burns when it comes to melodic improvisation. Ralph is deep!" Alessi introduced Gray to Augustin ("and when Ralph says someone is good, they're good, " the drummer says). The pianist, who hails from the French city of Reims, grew up listening to Mozart and Beethoven as well as the rhythms of Haitian music and the gospel music of her family's church; after falling under the spell of jazz, she studied with Alessi, Django Bates and drummer Dejan Terzic. "Beyond the fact that we dug a lot of the same pianists as modern touchstones, like Craig Taborn, Kris Davis and Geri Allen, I immediately loved Myslaure's positivity and intuitiveness, along with her beautiful touch and great sense of groove, " Gray says. "There was a wonderful Steinway in the studio in Switzerland where we recorded the album, and she really made the most of it. I love the way she and Ralph play together melodically in 'No More Walls, ' and she rocks her solos in 'Administration Rulez' and 'Political Technology. ' She really brought her own personality to the music. " Inspired by iconic drummer-leaders from Art Blakey and Tony Williams to Jim Black and John Hollenbeck, Gray is "a musician-drummer rather than a drummer-drummer, " as the UK's Jazzwise magazine pointed out. He's "interested in making music that is deeply evocative... shaped by a fizzing, often restless push-pull energy. " Gray has continually honed his knack for convening bands and composing pieces that inspire improvisers on stage and inthe studio. Yet, as always, he has remained fully engaged with his instrument, developing his own brand of textural-spatial-melodic drumming; the experience of recording his 2023 solo album Most Definitely and playing dozens of unaccompanied percussion shows further heightened his rhythmic expressiveness. "The touring for Most Definitely was all about the absolute commitment it requires to play solo drum performances night after night," he says, "and that helped raise the bar for me in terms of improvisation and connecting with different audiences." Just listen to Gray's roiling, surging musicality throughout Melt All the Guns II track "Political Technology" for a sense of how that playing can really drive an ensemble Reflecting on the chance for a progressive-jazz trio recording to turn a few heads nowadays, Gray concludes: "In a world ever-more consumed with social media and AI, this music is something truly handmade, an artisanal, human creation. We still need these things to wake us up, aesthetically and culturally, heart and mind. " Devin Gray (1983) Born and bred in Maine, Gray became a New Y orker in 2006 and currently splits his time between Berlin and Brooklyn. He has worked alongside such jazz sages as saxophonists David Liebman and Gary Thomas, and his other collaborations include the 2020 album 27 Licks, which documents Gray's longtime duo with close friend and master drummer Gerald Cleaver. Recent global appearances have been with Sylvie Courvoisier's trio with Drew Gress at the Berlin Jazz Festival, a new project with Tim Berne and Michael Formanek, and a trio with Zoh Amba and and Micah Thomas. As a sideman, Gray has worked with Nate Wooley, Tony Malaby, Andrea Parkins, Satoko Fujii, Marc Ducret and Eve Risser, among many others. In summer 2024, the drummer released the first recording by his quartet To the Point, featuring three Belgian musicians: saxophonist Robin V erheyen, pianist Bram De Looze and bassist Nicolas Thys. write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |