Albums comprised of atypically genre-jumping cover versions are always something of a tricky listening proposition; indeed both Nouvelle Vague’s lounge retakes of Dead Kennedys tunes and once-UK festival fixtures Acid Brass spring to mind, and this latest effort from Truby Trio / Fauna Flash / Voom Voom man Christian Prommer is certainly no exception to that rule. Originally conceived a few years back when Prommer decided to record an acoustic version of Derrick May’s “Strings Of Life’ for his solo album, his DrumLesson project remained shelved until Jazzanova’s Alex Barck discovered the track and insisted that Prommer release it as a 12” last year through Sonar Kollektiv. Released as the first half of a two volume set (the second half of which is expected later this year), Drum Lesson Vol.1 sees Prommer convening a band consisting of producer / pianist / arranger Roberto “Marsmobil’ Di Gioia, drummer Wolfgang Hafner and bassist Dieter Ilg in order to reinterpret in contemporary future-jazz style some of the dance classics that have featured in his own DJ bag throughout his decade long career. Such is the dancefloor ubiquity of the classics selected here for reinterpretation by Prommer and his band, even those with only a passing familiarity with the dancefloor are likely to recognise most of them. Still, while it’s certainly impressive hearing Prommer and Co. tackle the likes of Jay Dee’s “Plastic Dreams’ Ame’s “Rej’ and the aforementioned “Strings Of Life’, there’s a sense of hollowness – that perhaps you’re marveling at the amount of parts of the original track they’re able to pull off acoustically more than anything else. It’s a factor that’s not aided by the extreme focus on tastefully polished aesthetics here – indeed Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express’ manages to have all of its original sinister ambience sucked out of it, replaced instead by tepid, albeit technically impressive neo-samba/jazz vibes. Sadly, Drum Lesson Vol.1 seems destined to be one of those albums played at polite cocktail parties, just so that some hipster can accidentally betray his raver past by suddenly recognising a Josh Wink track.
Chris Downton
