Devin Gray - Relative Resonance (CD)

There aren’t too many more rewarding things that you can do with your morning – or evening – than listening to Devin Gray. Here is a drummer, you might say, who handles his drum set with far greater facility than many of his contemporaries and almost as if he were playing a piano, only in this instance, making his fingers do the talking on skins rather than on keys. His instrument has a warm and highly coloured range of sound, something Devin Gray exploits to the full. Best of all he is unfailingly musicianly in his approach, his playing full of the kind of insights that can come from long acquaintance with the music. He also lets the music speak for itself – this is entirely un-egotistical playing – unlike the opposite end of the spectrum from drummers whom I shall not name, who employ an interventionist approach to the interpretation of music.