Each month we ask a member of the community to tell us what music they’ve been digging.
I’m a little bit all over the place with what I listen to; I’m always searching for new sounds, but still finding myself returning to the music that’s influenced me over the years. I started getting into jazz at an early age, which opened me up to exploring other music from around the world, not just what I was hearing on the radio (although, I’m also just as happy to go back and listen to classic rock at times). What I’m listening to lately has been influenced by new music I’m working on with Brazilian Girls, plus a new electro-jazz trio with Jesse Murphy and Seamus Blake, and my own solo project (live, semi-improv drumming with digital samples and soundscapes). So, I’ll jump around from electronic artists like Aphex Twin, Tipper, Fred Again, FourTet, and even some ambient electronic like Terekke, to classics like Brian Eno’s Discreet Music and Music for Airports, or Yoshimura’s Green. I recently heard Beta Librae, that was cool.
Then, I might check out some of the newer African pop, like Roma, and the young Qing Madi, but then I might go back to listening to jazz artists that I love who had a big influence on me, like Ornette Coleman, Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth, or the ’60s Miles stuff with Tony Williams, always satisfying. Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, and Jack DeJohnette changed my life. That list goes on of course with drummers, but those guys blew my mind and changed everything for me.
This article appears in October 2025.
