Hamid Drake and Ingrid Schmoliner - Awon Ona (2021)

Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free jazz improvisers. Amongst many others he has worked with trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonists Pharaoh Sanders, Fred Anderson and Archie Shepp. The Austrian musician, composer and pedagogue Ingrid Schmoliner performs in various international and interdisciplinary projects. She is founder of the Raum 4 concert series and curates the New Adits Festival for Contemporary Music in Carinthia, Austria. Schmoliner distinctively expands the tonal language of current avant-garde music with her striking piano preparations and the multilayered combinations of her compositional patterns. She is at home equally in minimal music and in improvised jazz. The duo played several festivals together, amongst them Artacts in Tyrol, Austria and Jazz Cerkno in Slovenia. These two concerts were recorded and mastered for this release on double CD. Two masters of their craft generating something unique.