Gerry Hemingway
The songwriter and producer Gerry Hemingway has a long back story
as a drummer, multimedia artist, bandleader, composer and
improviser of music beginning in the early 1970’s. His singular
approach as a writer and player is heard on well over 250
recordings. “I admit that I stopped counting some time ago, but
its around that amount.”
“Afterlife”, as its title
might suggest, is a rather dramatic departure from the well
documented trajectory of his career. “I notice that writers by now
commonly refer to me as a ‘veteran drummer …’ But if you look
closer I have a history of seeking roads I’ve never traveled on,
always curious to deepen and challenge my experience as an artist.
In the case of the release of “Afterlife”, I should say that
songwriting was always somewhere in me, close to the roots of why
I became a musician. In a way, I've returned to discover something
that was really always there. Singing, or the use of my voice, has
made numerous appearances on past recordings, but more in an
instrumental context. To sing lyric in the more traditional
context of song is a more recent development.
To understand the expressive range, character and limitations of
my voice, as well as to go deeper into producing, I spent a number
of years singing songs I admired by Dylan, Geeshie Wiley, the
American Songbook, or standards, Lou Reed, the Monroe Brothers and
many others . Making these covers meant my finding a new home for
the original song. After a while my own songs started to arrive.”
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March 2023 interview with Andreas Fellinger in FreiStil magazine
in Deutsch
in English
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January 2023 article in Jazz'n'More magazin with Pirmin Bossart
in Deutsch
in English
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He transforms pop sensibility into new and deeper territories and proves that he is a very effective vocalist, a kind of 21st-century blues bard and a rapper, with a seemingly unassuming phrasing but quite a personal one, and a songwriter with a compassionate perspective of a Buddhist sage on life and love (“check - what you know / it’s never too late, to let it go”, he sings on the opening “The Creeks Do Rise”…
But the magic of Afterlife also lies in the rhythmic conceptualizing of the songs. Hemingway’s phrasing, the rhyming texts, the precise editing of the contributing parts of the other musicians, and obviously his own playing on drums and percussion instruments, all construct layered and highly nuanced, sensual rhythmic frameworks that correspond beautifully with the clever and suggestive lyrics. A rare, inspiring gem.
Eyal Hareuveni FreeJazzBlog / Dec. 8 2022
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"It took him four years to perfect this album, which is as unexpected as it is fascinating. A work often solitary but for which he has had the help of many musician friends whom he does not fail to thank for their help, their advice, their contributions. The sung/spoken voice, sensitive and warm, sometimes fragile, takes us into a composite sound universe which is based on a mastery of electronics but also gives an important place to conventional, acoustic and electric instruments. Unclassifiable, often in the vicinity of poetic rock with a good dose of inventiveness and audacity, Afterlife is a nice surprise for this end of the year 2022. A new life after Life."
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"..the music is well-played and the production is sharp...at times he alternately recalls Arthur Russell or Iggy Pop at his most delicate."
—Peter Margasak (Downbeat)
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"..he does not seek to push formats or playing modes too far, favoring an elegant simplicity that very quickly creates a universe. Nevertheless, the succession of “The Long March”, “Junkyard Magic” and the delicious lullaby “Missing You” in which he completely opens his interpretation with obvious pleasure constitutes a series of successful little musical miniatures and increases the interest in this record released on the independent label, Auricle Records."
—Nicolas Dourlhès // Citizen Jazz // January 8, 2023
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"His own songs-with-vocals album Afterlife was perhaps the biggest, most pleasant surprise of 2022."
Tom Hull (from July 10, 2023 - also on his best of 2022 list)
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"“The Creeks Do Rise” opens and lo and behold, it is a multi-layered hip-hop song!?! The beats are not in your face like much current hip-hop, they are more relaxed and haunting at times. The words are stripped down and deal with the questions that many of us ask ourselves. The music itself is most enchanting. Mr. Hemingway’s voice is modest, weary, honest, charming in its own way. Hemingway’s lyrics are often thoughtful, concise and discuss many of the things that most of us sensitive/intelligent folks often think about. On many of these songs, Hemingway draws from a cast of old cohorts to play short yet effective solos: Christy Doran, Manuel Troller and Florestan Berset on guitars, Michael Moore, Ralph Alessi and Sebastian Strinning on horns. It is not about the solos here as this isn’t a jazz record. This is closer to a pop/hip hop effort with crafty arrangements and thoughtful lyrics. For yours truly, this really does work. There are few real gems buried here as well: the great Swiss guitarist, Christy Doran, plays some wonderful spacey blues licks on “Losing Hand”, reaching into his Hendrix bag to give this song some great greasy charm."
Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG July 2023
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"It’s easy to imagine you know what to expect from drummer Gerry Hemingway. While he’s long been able to surprise (singing into the snare?), there is a refinement to his adventurousness, a certain finesse that has become familiar. He established himself, among those in the know, back in the ‘70s as a member of the trio BassDrumBone with Mark Helias and Ray Anderson and as part of one of Anthony Braxton’s key quartets. His work follows other, less documented lines as well, such as his visual art and, now, his songwriting efforts. Hemingway conceived and constructed the songs on Afterlife over the last four years, beginning with recording versions of songs by figures from the folk and rock worlds, including Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Geeshie Wiley and the Monroe Brothers (and maybe one day we’ll get to hear those studies), examining not just song structure but the audio production of their records. What the exercise spurred in him, however, is a good leap from the source material. The thoughtful lyrics set atop (but not always strictly bound to) cerebral grooves call to mind Rinde Eckert’s fine 2018 album The Natural World or even, to a lesser degree, Laurie Anderson’s groundbreaking Mister Heartbreak. It’s not that Afterlife sounds like those earlier records, but there’s a similarity in the full, bright recording and in the reflective wisdom of the lyrics. It’s all from the cerebrum. “Missing You” is unabashedly simple in structure and sentiment, direct and heartfelt, performed as an easy shuffle. It’s one of the lovelier songs on the collection, which is available as a download or on CD, housed in an attractive, DVD-size cardboard sleeve. Hemingway delivers the texts with comfortable confidence, and along with his voice and drums, employs guitar, bass, synthesizer and sampler. There are guest players (notably trumpeter Ralph Alessi, guitarist Christy Doran and Michael Moore on clarinet and alto saxophone), but most of the sound, as well as the production, is Hemingway’s. It’s an impressive and unexpected 45 minutes."
by Kurt Gottschalk - New York City Jazz Record July 2023
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