I know this has been posted before but thought I would revisit with a link to the full article by Ken Micallef at ModernDrummer.com.
-jmo
"A young man who ran with gangs and preached the gospel - who found his future from a chance meeting with jazz trumpeter and historian Wynton Marsalis - and who successfully fuses the styles of Steve Gadd and Jack DeJohnette, Eric Harland is a unique presence. His work on records by such artists as Terence Blanchard, Mark Shim, and Ravi Coltrane is a study in orchestral drumming. Where many drummers approach conventional jazz rhythms using the ride cymbal as the lead voice, Harland uses the entire set and its variety of sounds to underpin, elaborate, and explore the rhythm.
As likely to play a funky Bernard Purdie pattern as a floating Jack DeJohnette pulse, Harland is musical to a fault, but extremely creative--and even courageous. But that's not surprising for a man who has not only weathered the storms of life, but prospered, finding himself in the process."
"I think we're all going through a process in life of gaining a sense of identity and having to defend it at the same time," Harland says. "You have what flows with it and also what contradicts it. That's where you get your strength, from the perseverance of being yourself and the balance of understanding your place in this world."
Click here for the full interview.
