MUSIC REVIEW BY Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move
"A MUST / INDISPENSABLE!" We are happy to present the first album from our new partner, the jazz label Origin Records / OA2 Records, created by musicians and for musicians. We are even more excited as this Seattle-based jazz label is known for its quality and is full of exciting projects, one more captivating than the other. Andy Wheelock is a drummer, percussionist, composer, and educator. Wheelock is an active artist who regularly performs in the Front Range area. He is a founding member of the Live Edge Trio, the Whee3trio, and KEWO, and you can hear him playing with the Gonzalo Teppa Quintet, Ben Markley, the New Stream Brass Ensemble, the jazz faculty at the University of Wyoming, and the Cheyenne Symphony. Wheelock has had the honor of sharing the stage with Adam Birnbaum, Bill O'Connell, Craig Handy, Ernie Watts, SK Kakraba, Jorge Glem, Bobby Shew, Chuchito Valdés, Joel Frahm, Henry Linarez, Bob Bowman, Ivan Trevino, and William Moersch.
Let's not try to label this artist—while there are Latin influences, they are far from the only ones. You'll also find touches of pop music, world music, and rock. Using the timbre and pentatonic offerings of the Ghanaian Gyil, a wooden xylophone, as a compositional tool, Wheelock envisioned the inventive voice of guitarist Gilad Hekselman as the perfect complement to pianist Walter Gorra, bassist Gonzalo Teppa, and the drums and percussion of Wheelock to orchestrate the vast landscapes of "Finn," the complex dance of "Your Poor Mother," or the afro-pop-tinged street party that is "Empire." Full of joy, energy, and rhythmic surprises, WHEE3Trio's debut album is sure to excite and inspire. I admit that I did not know this drummer/ percussionist/ composer, and this discovery delights me because everything is in harmony on this album, right down to the choice of guest guitarist Gilad Hekselman. The compositions are surprising for an instrumentalist specializing in percussion, who also possesses a strong melodic sense. One is captivated by the finesse of this music—a music that manages to be both complex and appealing to its audience.
As a composer and arranger, Wheelock regularly writes for his own recording projects as well as for big bands, percussion ensembles, Samba Bateria, and Pan-Afro-Latin ensembles. His first album as a leader, View From Here with Ernie Watts, received rave reviews and enjoyed significant airplay across the country. As a clinician and judge, Wheelock has been a guest artist at Ohio State University, Central Michigan University, Friends University, Columbus State University, Washburn, Hope College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wichita State, and the University of Illinois.
Wheelock is currently the director of jazz studies and percussion coordinator at the University of Wyoming, where he leads the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combos, the Samba Bateria, the Pan-Afro-Latin percussion group, and the UWYO percussion ensemble.
These details are important to fully appreciate an artist who will likely continue to amaze us for a long time—without too much artifice, but with precision—and who here earns a place among our "Essential" albums for having taken us on a journey into a world that left us deeply moved.
Let's not try to label this artist—while there are Latin influences, they are far from the only ones. You'll also find touches of pop music, world music, and rock. Using the timbre and pentatonic offerings of the Ghanaian Gyil, a wooden xylophone, as a compositional tool, Wheelock envisioned the inventive voice of guitarist Gilad Hekselman as the perfect complement to pianist Walter Gorra, bassist Gonzalo Teppa, and the drums and percussion of Wheelock to orchestrate the vast landscapes of "Finn," the complex dance of "Your Poor Mother," or the afro-pop-tinged street party that is "Empire." Full of joy, energy, and rhythmic surprises, WHEE3Trio's debut album is sure to excite and inspire. I admit that I did not know this drummer/ percussionist/ composer, and this discovery delights me because everything is in harmony on this album, right down to the choice of guest guitarist Gilad Hekselman. The compositions are surprising for an instrumentalist specializing in percussion, who also possesses a strong melodic sense. One is captivated by the finesse of this music—a music that manages to be both complex and appealing to its audience.
As a composer and arranger, Wheelock regularly writes for his own recording projects as well as for big bands, percussion ensembles, Samba Bateria, and Pan-Afro-Latin ensembles. His first album as a leader, View From Here with Ernie Watts, received rave reviews and enjoyed significant airplay across the country. As a clinician and judge, Wheelock has been a guest artist at Ohio State University, Central Michigan University, Friends University, Columbus State University, Washburn, Hope College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wichita State, and the University of Illinois.
Wheelock is currently the director of jazz studies and percussion coordinator at the University of Wyoming, where he leads the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combos, the Samba Bateria, the Pan-Afro-Latin percussion group, and the UWYO percussion ensemble.
These details are important to fully appreciate an artist who will likely continue to amaze us for a long time—without too much artifice, but with precision—and who here earns a place among our "Essential" albums for having taken us on a journey into a world that left us deeply moved.
Soundclips
Other Reviews of
"WHEE3Trio: In the Wheelhouse":
All About Jazz by Dan McClenaghan
Jazz Weekly by George W Harris