Any of you hip hop, funk, soul, jazz, rock and pop music fans who pay attention to the musicians playing alongside your beloved bandleaders, will know and appreciate the drumming skills and style of Chris Dave. D’Angelo, Robert Glasper, Thundercat, Adele, Mint Condition, John Legend, Maxwell, Mos Def and Erykah Badu are just some of the artists Chris Dave has played with during his 25+ year music career. His drumming credentials are undoubtedly beyond reproach.
With the release of his own debut album Chris Dave and The Drumhedz, he’s now brilliantly demonstrated his skills as a writer, arranger, producer and bandleader too.
Combining forces with around 50 of today’s most accomplished and innovative musicians and vocalists, Chris Dave and his contemporaries have created 15 dreamy, other-wordly tracks seamlessly blending the sounds of hip hop, jazz, funk, soul, rock and Afrobeat.
They include a sexy, ethereal ode to the power of rhythm in “Atlanta, Texas” featuring Goapele and Shafiq Husayn; and a more upbeat celebration of the “Universal Language” of music from “The Drumhedz as a whole”; a dark, rocked-out form of story-telling by Anderson Paak and SiR in “Clear View”; and a lighter, loved-up journey into another world with Mint Condition’s Stokley Williams in “Cosmic Intercourse”; a funky hip hop number featuring rappers Elzhi and Phonte Coleman; and the ballad “Spread Her Wings” sublimely sung by Bilal and Tweet.
Each song on the album is a dreamy gift of musical goodness to love and behold. And make no mistake. Throughout all of them, Chris Dave’s skills as writer, producer and bandleader may shine, but so too do his unique style and diverse drumming skills.
Hear a few sample tracks from Chris Dave and The Drumhedz below, remembering these are mere compressed mp3 versions. To hear and appreciate the many instrumental layers and subtleties of these and other songs from the album, and fundamentally to support the work of Chris Dave and his cohorts, buy the entire album in hard copy (including on sweet vinyl) from your local independent music store or online via Chris Dave’s website .
Universal Language by Chris Dave and The Drumhedz
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Black Hole by Chris Dave and The Drumhedz featuring Anderson Paak
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Cosmic Intercourse by Chris Dave and The Drumhedz featuring Stokley Williams
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