Review by Ralph Greco, Jr.
You’re just not going to get much better than drummer Terry Bozzio. Out on his “An Evening With Terry Bozzio” tour, the former Frank Zappa, U.K. and Missing Persons skin master brought his massive set and amiable personality to the comfortable environs of the Havana in New Hope for a two-set drumming tour de force that left the crowd speechless.
Starting with “Africa,” Bozzio rolled pretty much around the higher tuned toms of his set, flowing over some simple — simple sounding, certainly not to execute — bass drum patterns. “Pat’s Changes,” a song Bozzio said was inspired and created when playing with bassist and fromer Missing Persons bandmate Patrick O’Hearn, gave us more of that wild independence Bozzio is so known for. In the first set we even got some improvisation when the drummer sat to play the cajón percussion box with cheap (as he told us) Japanese toy bells on his feet.
The second set featured more drumming on the big kit (around 100 pieces, give or take a dozen or two). The first tune had Bozzio facing the back of the set and his mounted multi-bongo set-up, setting off his array of connected and variously sized bass drums. Afterwards, he stood up for a few minutes of talk after reminding us of his bare-hand dexterity, and creating various spacey sounds from a Korg WaveDrum.
The last “song” of the night had Bozzio sitting and facing forward as the audience drew in an audible collective breath for what we all knew was coming. Digging down deep to get a stuttering bass drum pattern going, we were treated to Bozzio snapping his snare and hitting the arc of his overhead cymbals as his speed accelerated at a nearly inhuman rate. Still going strong at 65, Terry Bozzio is one of a kind, a master percussionist whose evening of solo drumming is not to be believed.
