Deric Dickens - Speed Date (Self Published, 2011) ***

By Stef
 
Being a fan of duets with percussion, Brooklyn-based drummer Deric Dickens seems to have made an album that really fits my taste.

On twenty short tracks, Dickens plays duets with Ben Cohen on tenor saxophone, Jon Crowley on trumpet, Kirk Knuffke on coronet, Jeff Lederer also on tenor saxophone, Jeremy Udden on alto and C melody saxophone, and Matt Wilson on drums, wooden flute, and "Makers Mark Bottle".

The music is - not surprisingly - influenced by Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman, free quite often, yet also sometimes with rhythmic base and a theme. Some pieces like "Original Self" are more traditional, with once in a while a reference to Ayler, as in "Duck Dance", but the fun stuff clearly dominates. As a kind of self-imposed limitation, some tracks are stop-watched at 1:14 minutes. 

This is an album without any other ambition than to bring fun stuff, enjoying the interplay of rhythm and lyricism in its simplest format. This is not great art, nor is it really innovative, and neither were the objective I think, but an incredibly fun album that's been in my car for the past week. When stuck in traffic jams, or when having trouble adjusting to the light of day, or worrying about the small and big things of life, agonising about everything I should have done but failed to do, just listening to this put me back in the right mood. Therapeutic music? Possibly among the best, without pretense.

Buy from the artist. And available via Amazon and iTunes as of October 18.


© stef