Sandy Nelson - Drummin' Up A Storm (1962/2019)

Drummin' Up a Storm continues Sandy Nelson's collaboration with producer and session ace Richie Podolor, co-writer of the drummer's smash "Let There Be Drums." While nothing here matched their previous commercial success, this is nevertheless a better-than-average entry in the vast Nelson catalog, achieving a fine balance between well-chosen covers and original material. While the former category establishes Nelson in contexts like New Orleans R&B (Fats Domino's "I'm in Love Again") and jazz (Duke Ellington's "C-Jam Blues"), everything here pales in the looming shadow of the Nelson original "All Around the World with Drums," a protean 12-minute epic that employs virtually every rhythm and studio effect known to man.