BRATTLEBORO — Drums from Martinique and Cuba mingle with rhythms of Turkey and Bulgaria in the jazz world of percussionist/composer Julian Gerstin. His sextet has just recorded its first CD, The One Who Makes You Happy, and celebrates with a CD release party on Friday, Sept. 8, at The Lounge (at Duo Restaurant at the corner of Main and High streets) from 7 to 10 p.m.
Living in Martinique for two years, Gerstin studied the unusual tanbou drum, played with both hands and one foot. To bring this instrument home, he composed music for a jazz setting, where musicians can improvise and create on the basis of tradition. He draws also on his experiences traveling and working with musicians from Cuba, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt.
His compositions combine rhythmic drive with melodies that sneak jazz complexity into singable, even catchy, lines. “Dig It Deeper,” for example, weds a bluesy, funky melody to the Martinican rhythm bèlè. In Martinique, bèlè is played for folk dances that combine African movements with French quadrilles.
In a similar culture-crossing vein, “Child Left Behind” is a jazz burner based on a fast Cuban rumba guaguancó. On the CD, “Child Left Behind” is followed by “Apprendiendo Como Amar,” a folkloric guaguancó with original lyrics recorded in San Francisco by Gerstin and four of the Bay Area's finest Cuban drummers and singers.
From the other side of the world, the title track “The One Who Makes You Happy” is a gentle ballad in the form of a Bulgarian lesno, or “slow song.”
For his sextet, Gerstin has assembled a powerhouse of creative, like-minded musicians.
Anna Patton, clarinet, has a grounding in Bulgarian and Macedonian music as well as jazz. Trumpeter Don Anderson is a salsa veteran. Pianist Eugene Uman has worked extensively in Colombia and brings the rhythms of that country to his music. Bassist Wes Brown has spanned the history of jazz styles working with giants from Earl “Fatha” Hines to Wadada Leo Smith, and drummer Ben James has ranged from rock's Camper van Beethoven to free jazz great John Tchicai.