John Hadfield - Drum Of Stories (2023)

In a Circle Records is proud to release "Drum of Stories", a highly anticipated new album by the Grammy award-nominated percussionist & composer, John Hadfield. The album’s core trio is composed of Hadfield and two of the finest Parisian jazz musicians playing today: Grégory Privat (piano) and Chris Jennings (bass). The trio is joined by three renowned guests and long-time collaborators: Syrian clarinetist & composer Kinan Azmeh, jazz saxophone legend Ron Blake, and the Iranian guitar virtuoso Mahan Mirarab.

This is how John describes the album: What would drums say if they could talk? This is the question I asked myself in 2022 when I acquired several percussion instruments that had belonged to two percussionists I have long admired, Naná Vasconcelos’ and Colin Walcott. Specifically, it was a large field drum of Colin Walcott’s and an assortment of bells and rattles that belonged to Nana Vasconcelos that sparked this journey.
Holding these instruments inspired me to imagine the stories they could tell if they relived the music they had produced in the past. I revisited Walcott and Vasconcelos’ creations as starting points to my own compositions. The seven tracks included in this album more broadly communicate musically the notions and feelings drums would express about themselves, other instruments, and their human players—past and present—if they took a life of their own. It was truly a joy to create and record with these instruments throughout the entire recording process. Honoring the past while creating relevant and contemporary jazz was my main goal for this project.

In a Circle Records was established in 2008 by Johnny Gandelsman, Grammy-winning producer and violinist. Upcoming releases include Christopher Cerrone' opera, "In a Grove", and "Starlighter", a collaboration between Brooklyn Rider and Syrian clarinetist & composer, Kinan Azmeh. ICR’s most recent releases include “This Is America - An Anthology 2020-2021”, Johnny’s 3-disc album of 24 solo works written form him during the pandemic; as well as the soundtrack to Ken Burns, Lynn Novick & Sarah Botstein’s recent documentary film “The U.S. and the Holocaust”, which aired on PBS in September 2022.