Singing And The Drums

Jamison Ross’ rhythm and melody.

- Geraldine Wyckoff

“I ’m sitting down at the drums with nothing but melodies on my mind,” sings Jamison Ross on the groove tune “Call Me” from his new Concord Jazz release, All For One.

“I’m telling you exactly how I write music,” explains Ross, who teamed with guitarist Rick Lollar on this and many of the fine originals on the disc.

Ross entered the scene as a jazz-wise drummer and the winner of the 2012 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition and increased his presence to the max with his exceptional vocal work on his 2015 self-titled debut release, which earned him a Grammy nomination. As heard on both his first and latest releases, Ross is neither a drummer who sings nor a singer who plays drums. His talent is making them seamless and, well, all for one.

“I’m not trying to prove that I can play drums on this album,” Ross explains. “To be honest, it was the last thing on my mind. What I’m trying to do as an artist is not about the virtuosity of playing the drums. It is about singing and the drums—the rhythm and the melody. If you listen to the drums and the voice together you’ll understand the concept better.”

It is clearly demonstrated as the album kicks off with an Allen Toussaint song, “A Mellow Good Time,” made famous by the great vocalist Lee Dorsey. It stands as both a timely tribute to Toussaint and timeless in its spirited New Orleans essence. Its inclusion should greatly please local audiences.