Owen Howard
Drum Lore
BJU Records
www.bjurecords.com
By George W. Harris

Canadian drummer/arranger Owen Howard has built up a considerable CV playing with the likes of Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, John Abercrombie and Dave Liebman. On this release, he has created a team with John O’Gallagher/as, Andy Middleton/ts-ss, Adam Kolker/ts-ss-bc, Alan Ferber/tb, Frank Carlberg/p and Johannes Weldenmueller/b for some exciting and adventurous music.

Straddling between advanced post bop and avant garde, Howard and company performs tunes written by some of jazz’s finest drummers. He digs in deep on Peter Erskine’s the boisterous “Bulgaria” and goes from the sublime to the ridiculous on Jack Dejohnette’s “Zoot Suite” which includes some wild horn work. A festive take of Chick Webb’s “Stompin’ At The Savoy” is a perfect contrast to Paul Motian’s haunting “It Should’ve Happened A Long Time Ago” with some brooding bass clarinet work supplied by Kolker. All of the moods and colors are kept together with the cohesive section work by Howard’s group of mustangs, making this a good workshop for aspiring drummers.