Frank Rosaly

Drummer Frank Rosaly‘s superb debut as a bandleader, Cicada Music (Delmark), began as the soundtrack for Scrappers, the 2010 documentary about Chicago scrap-metal scavengers. His original score featured both sparse percussion pieces, some of which were mixed with audio verite recordings of scrap yards featured in the film, and elegant compositions recorded with some of the Rosaly’s cohorts from the local jazz and improvised music scene. After his work was completed, the drummer began thinking about keeping the band he’d assembled together as a working unit, so he fleshed the works out to function as vehicles for improvisation for the new group, also called Cicada Music. Their record suggests his instincts were correct. (Full disclosure: I wrote the liner notes.)