2 hands, 2 feet, 2 elbows, 2 knees, 10 fingers, 10 toes, 1 forehead, 1 chin, 27(?) teeth, 1 nose - drumsets, pandeiro, darbuka, berimbau, congas, bongos, timpani, pitched percussion, trash cans, beer cans, bottles, helpless squealing kittens, whatever else I can get my hit or scrape, country and bossa nova guitar, bass guitar, country upright bass, and sometimes an iMac.
Influences
Elvin, Blackwell, Bonham, Moon, Clyde and Jabo, Mickey Roker, Edgar Bateman, etc.
Sounds Like
ARI UP AND THE TRUE WARRIORS: Ari's solo project - new tunes, dancehall, and some classic Slits.
THE WEST PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA: the local Balkan Gypsy band i run - an extravaganza of joy, revelry, and loose passions.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETING: jazz, sex, and various slurred absurdities.
THE KLEZ DISPENSERS: disproportionately talented and inteligent young jews (+2 goys) with clarinets, trumpets, saxaphones, fiddles, and a jazz rhythm section, extending the fine, once abandoned, tradition of American klezmer music.
KING DJANGO: Jamaican ska, roots reggae, dancehall, and some rock.
OLD GOATS (CABRAS VELHAS): Brazilian music from Bahia and also other classic Brazilian tunes and originals.
JAZZ: with fine Philadelphians and New Yorkers in line-ups that change like the daily lottery numbers.
And sometimes with Romashka, Alicia Svigals, German Goldenshteyn Bessarabian Band, Jenkins/Brown Quintet, the Jazz Lobsters Big Band, Ortlieb's Jazz/Poetry Playground, other klezmer or jazz or folk or experimental or rock bands.
Yo. I'm a percussionist, composer, arranger, and writer. I've played lots of beats and lots of instruments for lots of different bands. I studied jazz drumming as a teenager (with Tony DiNicola and Rob Brosch), and then stepped away from it, studying philosophy and literature at Temple U. Hanging at Ortlieb's Jazz Haus with legendary jazz drummer Mickey Roker and Earl Curry inspired me to start playing again, and when I finished college, and needed to earn a living, I started playing more seriously.
In the last few years, I've played drumset with Ari Up and the True Warriors (reggae, dancehall, some Slits tunes), King Django (roots reggae, ska), Klez Dispensers (jazz, klezmer), as well as Romashka, Shtreiml, Jack Ohly, Deep Minor, Pepi Ginsberg, Cheese on Bread, and gigs on the Philly jazz scene (Elliott Levin, Puzzlebox, etc.). When I was a kid, I played with the something-core band Bazhena. I also play pandeiro and other Brazilian percussion with Old Goats, a group I co-lead with Jack Ohly and Todd Erk. Lately, I've been studying middle eastern percussion, darbuka in particular.
Another of my latest obsessions is composing and arranging. I never formally studied it, yet I do it. I began composing Raymond Scott inspired pieces for Klez Dispensers, and then, in 2007, I began composing tunes for my group West Philadelphia Orchestra that are inspired by Eastern European folk music and also jazz and modern classical, sort of. I recently arranged 4 of my tunes for WPO and a chamber orchestra, Camerata Philadelphia. I look forward to studying this more, and arranging more tunes for different groups - it's nice to show up to a gig with a briefcase rather than a whole trap kit. In winter 2007, I recieved a grant from the American Composers Forum to record some tunes with my group, WPO. I also play some guitar and even bluegrass bass when my friends' bands are desparate for a bass player (really desparate)
To contact me about playing a gig, playing on a recording session, teaching lessons, arranging and orchestrating, or whatever, write me at gmervine@gmail.com. If you want to get on my email list (about 1 email a month about my gigs and lastest projects), email gmervine@gmail.com too with something obvious like 'add me' in the subject line. I don't use myspace too much - it's just slow and I can't stand all the video adverts - so never contact me here.
I never set out to make a career in music, I just wanted to have fun and to challenge my creativity, but it somehow happened that i am getting by on music. In truth, travelling, writing, and loafing are more my calling, but I'll risk music a little while longer, until I feel I've gotten out what ever I had to bring forth, and then move on to the next stage.
lovely to meet you, glad you like Sind'...those crazy Italians, I tell you! It's gonna be a rocking affair in Philly on the 16th, hope you can make it to Chris' kisses Amy for the Tiptons
