* En anglais uniquement
Whit Dickey is a uniquely gifted avant and free jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader. During the resurgence of American free jazz in the early to mid-'90s, he held memberships in the groups of
David S. Ware,
Joe Morris, and
Matthew Shipp (with whom he continues to play). In the 21st century, he's worked extensively with saxophonist
Ivo Perelman as well as making his own recordings. Throughout his career, the drummer has most often worked with a small but distinguished group of composers, leaders, and improvisers who include
Rob Brown,
Michael Bisio, and
Mat Maneri.
Dickey provided the trap-set foundation's pulse and flow to many now-classic sides including
Ware's Third Ear Recitation and Earthquation,
Shipp's Prism and Flow of X, and
Morris' Elsewhere. He initially stepped into the spotlight as a leader with the release of his
Transonic album for Aum Fidelity in 1998.
Dickey, though readily accessible to fans and musicians, has been press-shy throughout his career. He has virtually no web presence, grants few interviews, and does no promotion outside of releasing records. He prefers to let his sound -- influenced by drummers ranging from
Paul Motian and
Billy Higgins to
Tony Oxley and
Milford Graves -- speak for him. In 2001 he co-founded a collective with
Maneri and
Shipp called
Nommonsemble. Their album Life Cycle included half-a-dozen of his compositions. In 2013 he formed Blood Trio with
Sabir Mateen and
Michael Bisio. They issued the album Understory for Not Two. In 2019, he recorded a double-length offering leading two different groups, the Taos Quartet(s), on
Peace Planet/Box of Light for Aum Fidelity
Dickey was born in New York City in 1954 and raised in Bennington, Vermont. He began playing drums in his twenties, inspired by
Miles Davis'
Bitches Brew and
Mahavishnu Orchestra's
Birds of Fire, as well as the free sounds of
Cecil Taylor and the
Art Ensemble of Chicago. He participated in workshops at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock and later studied with
Milford Graves and
Bill Dixon at Bennington College and at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he transcribed solos by
Sonny Rollins and
Thelonious Monk. He made his recording debut with
Matthew Shipp's quartet in 1990 on the album
Points for Sweden's Silkheart; with saxophonist
Rob Brown and guitarist
Joe Morris on Youniverse in 1992, and as a member of
Shipp's trio for Circular Temple the same year. In 1993, he claimed the drum chair in
David S. Ware's group, appearing on the saxophonist's DIW debut Third Ear Recitation. He remained with
Ware until 1996, playing on a handful albums including Earthquation, Cryptology, and Dao. Also in 1996, he joined
Morris' group for Elsewhere, while continuing his work with
Shipp.
Dickey took a year-long sabbatical in 1997, which he spent reinventing his playing style, meditating, and composing. He re-merged with his leader debut
Transonic in 1998 for AUM Fidelity, with
Brown on sax and flute, and bassist
Chris Lightcap. He composed or co-composed each of the album's eight tracks. Big Top, for Wobbly Rail, was released two years later in a quartet setting with
Morris on electric guitar. The album included two originals and covers of
Eric Dolphy's "The Prophet" and
Thelonious Monk's "Skippy." In 2001,
Dickey recorded half-a-dozen of his compositions with
Mat Maneri,
Shipp, and
Brown under the name
Nommonsemble, which released Life Cycle via AUM Fidelity. A year later, he recorded as a member of the collective Trio Ahxoloxha on Prophet Moon with
Morris and
Brown. In 2004, he and bassist
Dominic Duval played in saxophonist James Finn's trio for Opening the Gates, released by Cadence Jazz.
Dickey expanded his trio to a quartet with trumpeter
Roy Campbell for a handful of albums, including 2004's
Coalescence, 2005's
In a Heartbeat, and 2006's
Sacred Ground. Also in 2006 he returned to play with
Shipp's trio on Piano Vortex after a decade apart. Two years later he joined
Morris and
Brown in a collective and released Right Hemisphere for France's Rogueart label.
In 2009, he teamed with multi-instrumentalist
Daniel Carter and pianist
Eri Yamamoto for the universally acclaimed Emergence on Not Two. He played exclusively in
Shipp's groups for the next two years on a series of albums that included the pianist's most acclaimed outing, Art of the Improviser. Also around this time, he met saxist
Ivo Perelman through
Shipp and the pair made their debut with The Clairvoyant for Leo Records; it marked the beginning of a periodic partnership that would result in a dozen albums. A year later the pair issued the duo set Tenorhood. In 2014,
Dickey appeared with
Shipp on the unnecessarily controversial
Duke Ellington homage To Duke.
Dickey and cornetist
Kirke Knuffke issued the duo album Fierce Silence for Portugal's Clean Feed, all the while recording and performing in
Perelman's various groups and
Shipp's trio. In 2017,
Dickey once again reunited with
Shipp and
Maneri for the trio session
Vessel in Orbit on AUM Fidelity, and joined the pianist's quartet with
Michael Bisio, and either
Daniel Carter (Not Bound, For Tune, 2017) or Polish emigre
Mat Walerian (Sonic Fiction, ESP-Disk, 2018) on saxophones and winds.
Dickey released his most expansive outing to date in July of 2019. Leading two groups of players called the
Tao Quartets, he issued the double-disc offering
Peace Planet/Box of Light on AUM Fidelity. The former group included
Shipp,
Brown, and bassist
William Parker, while the latter featured sidemen
Brown,
Bisio, and trombonist
Steve Swell. Recorded in Brooklyn during the winter of 2018 and 2019, it housed 11 compositions by the drummer that showcased his aesthetic ideas and playing strategies regarding the evolution of harmony, texture, and dynamic force. ~ Thom Jurek