Tempo Comodo

by Thom JurekThere are very few drummers who could pull off a solo percussion record in the same way that Han Bennink does: playfully. His long reach into the hallmarks of rhythmic invention displays itself here in a myriad of ways -- certainly on the trap kit, the instrument on which he has so few peers, but also on gongs, cymbals, hand drums, found objects, selected surfaces, and even in the air! In nuanced execution (whether it be rowdy as a barroom fight or subtle as a whisper), Bennink reveals over the course of these 15 selections the many ways in which he can make the drums (or whatever else he's using as drums) sing. Song becomes the dais on which his entire percussion workshop turns, offering humor and outrageous feats of both artistry and chaos, as well as a sense of vaudevillian performance ethos, inside the framework of his improvisational monologue. There are many surprises here, none of them remotely tedious or ordinary. In fact, if anything, Tempo Comodo comes off as a work of singularity and alchemical transformation from percussion workshop to a statement on the creation and foundation of the rhythmic principle. This album is more than a wonder -- in fact, it's a delight.