Recording of the Week, Petter Eldh, 'Projekt Drums Vol. 1'

A jazz player by trade having shared the stage with such luminaries as Django Bates and Kit Downes, Swedish bassist Petter Eldh’s first musical love was hip-hop (specifically Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, which he picked up at only nine years old - but it was discovering Charlie Parker as a teenager that started to get the gears turning in a young Eldh’s mind, initially studying guitar before switching to the bass. The latest recording by Eldh indulges in this early fascination with the rhythmic sounds of hip-hop and beats, featuring a roster of six drummers - one per track - with Eldh gathering players of all stripes for this project; from the exciting young player Savannah Harris, prolific sidemen from the States like Eric Harland and Nate Wood, James Maddren and Richard Spaven from across the pond here in the UK, and Norwegian player and Rune Grammofon regular Gard Nilssen, each of Eldh’s featured accompanists are accomplished players in their own right.

Each player makes their own contribution across the record’s runtime, not only slotting nicely into Eldh's compositions but playing around in their own ways across the tracklisting too. And that’s without even mentioning the sixteen other guest collaborators Eldh has amassed for the recording, providing everything else from cascades of harp and fluttering woodwinds, to melodic horns and even mallet instruments, while Eldh himself supplies the low-end on both upright and electric bass, as well as synthesiser sounds from his vast collection of hardware. With all these ingredients going into Eldh’s musical concoction, it’s no small feat that the man himself has mixed it to perfection such that each new flavour manages to stand on its own without overshadowing the others.

For a man raised in Sweden and who currently resides in Berlin, Petter Eldh’s compositions on Projekt Drums sound remarkably New York-ian; being so heavily focused on the featured percussionists, Projekt Drums uses this as an opportunity to explore dizzying rhythms and heavily swung grooves, Savannah Harris’ playing on the opening ‘LORIMER’ being nigh-indecipherable at times without careful listening - but careful listening is what it deserves. Coupled with the horn-led melodies, it’s hard not to imagine some of the songs here being played at some cool jazz school-crowd gig on the East Side. Other moments play it more straightforward in terms of rhythms but still retain that modern nu-jazz sound with a heavy dose of hip-hop flavour; ‘GOODS YARD’ feat. Richard Spaven has this in spades, even a squelchy synth solo coming right after the mid-section that could’ve been plucked straight from a ‘90s hip-hop album. Eldh even looks the part in the song’s music video, playing the sampled beats on an old Akai MPC1000 sampler as well as filling out the low-end with some nice rubbery electric bass.

While most of the tracks have Eldh and his featured drummer soaking up most of the attention, one notable guest on ‘EAST CROYDON’ feat. James Maddren is guitarist Reinier Baas, whose smooth guitar licks prove to be just as much a crucial piece of the puzzle as Eldh and Maddren themselves. Elsewhere Kathrin Pechlof’s harp on ‘GIMSØY’ feat. Gard Nilssen takes the centre stage with some beautiful twinkling arpeggios, while Otis Sandsjö also contributes the graceful yet urgent syncopated saxophone melodies on ‘GREEN STREET’ feat. Nate Wood, sitting nicely against the mellotron-like chords beginning the track before Wood kicks into one of the most brilliantly fluid yet skittish beats on the record.

It would be easy for a record as dense as this to wear thin after prolonged listening, but at little over half an hour in length Projekt Drums Vol. 1 does far from overstay its welcome; with just 6 tracks on the album, each one feels remarkably focussed. It’s not only Eldh and the featured drummers that make the record, though - the rest of the band shines just as brightly, though the presence of such brilliant percussionists certainly helps. Projekt Drums Vol. 1 gets deep into the heart of what makes modern jazz groove, aided no doubt by the bassist’s love of hip-hop, funk and beats. Each track straddles the careful balance of tightly locked-in grooves and elasticity, keeping every note played by the band smack-dab in the pocket. These grooves are irresistible. If there is - as the title suggests - another volume to come, I’ll be waiting for it eagerly.