Masterful drummer nods to J Dilla, Squarepusher & Flying Lotus

Concert

For those who held (or still hold) David Bowie’s ‘Black Star’ dear to their heart, musician Mark Guiliana is an absolute revelation. This masterful drummer had already caught our eye at the side of pianist Brad Mehldau and with his project Beat Music he really knocked us for six. Mark? ‘Electronic music is a huge inspiration for me. The first time I heard Squarepusher’s ‘Feed Me Weird Things’, it hit me like the first time I heard Tony Williams with Miles. Then hearing Aphex Twin was like hearing Elvin Jones with Coltrane. Experiencing that electronic music – its precision, discipline, timbral imagination – was just as profound for me as hearing those jazz drumming icons. So, marrying the discipline of electronic music with the improvisational sense of jazz is a lot of what the Beat Music is about.’

In the press

‘What happens when you add hard-bop drummer masters Elvin Jones and Art Blakey to a 1980s Roland 808 drum machine, divide the result by J Dilla and then multiply to the power of Squarepusher? Answer: Mark Guiliana!’ (Time Out London)