SONG PREMIERE: Drum Virtuosos Rob Silverman & Simon Phillips Join Up On Hydraulic “Brave New World”

In the world of drum/percussion visionaries and virtuosos, Rob Silverman’s name certainly belongs on the top of the list. Silverman’s new album, Drumology, available October 15, via Autumn Hill Records. Silverman engages with a dream-come-true roster of the world’s greatest drummers for a series of electrifying percussive dialogues. The album includes Gregg Bissonette, Steve Smith, Simon Phillips, Dave Weckl, John Blackwell and Casey Adams, Silverman’s lifelong friend and one of the most in-demand drum teachers in St. Louis.

Silverman has spent his career exploring the rhythmic traditions of cultures around the globe. His influences range from a variety of African drumming traditions to Japanese Taiko music; Middle Eastern rhythms to Native American drumming; Samba to the rock-jazz fusion that lies at the core of his passion for the kit. All of these flavors come to bear in Silverman’s powerful yet finessed drumming for the Eric Marienthal Band, the classical-jazz hybrid Bach to the Future, and recordings with Jeff Lorber, Randy Brecker, Dweezil Zappa, Jimmy Haslip and many others.

Glide is honored to premiere the new track “Brave New World” (below) featuring the iconic drummer Simon Phillips, best known for his tenures with The Who and Toto but whose solo project Protocol has been a major influence for Silverman. The piece was written after the fashion of Protocol’s 1988 debut and spotlights the late Banshee and Morphelonious bassist Bill Westfall along with saxophonist Eric Marienthal. One can hear the progressive soundscapes and vivid drum patterns that define Silverman’s musical menu, which is pure hydraulic and polyrhythmic magic.

“After meeting Simon Phillips at the Chesterfield Jazz Festival, we discussed the Drumology project, and I was thrilled that he was interested in being a part of it,” says Silverman. ” My brother Michael composed ‘Brave New World’ as a piece inspired by Simon’s famous album Protocol, which was a huge influence on us in our formative years in the late eighties. It was amazing when we tracked our two drum parts and listened back – it brought us right back to being teenagers, mesmerized by Simon’s fluid playing style, but now we were having a dialogue!”