Game of rhythm and time

by Petar PLAMENOV

27 April (Wednesday) 2011
Jojo Mayer & Nerve
Sofia Live Club
Start: 21:00
Entrance: 20/25 BGN
Address:
Sofia, 1 Bulgaria Square, NPC, subway with the fountains
Working time: 20:00–07:00
Nr seats: 270
Mobile: 088 833 11 93

Swiss drummer Jojo Mayer pioneered and leads the recent trend of live breakbeat drumming with his band NERVE. Jojo's design is a 5A style stick‚ but with thicker and shorter dimensions. It provides a big feel and full sound without a lot of length. Jojo began his drumming career at 18, touring with Monty Alexander's group, playing major jazz festivals throughout Europe. This lead to back-up gigs with other jazz-greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Nina Simone and introduced him to an international audience.

Jojo Mayer has performed and / or recorded with a great variety of artists covering a wide range of musical styles such as The Screaming Headless Torsos, Meshell n'dege Occello, Vernon Reid's science project, DJ Spooky, the Vienna Art Orchestra, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Harry Pepl, Gerald Veasley, Lunar Crush, John Zorn, Chico Freeman, George Adams John Medeski, Hiram Bullock, Leni Stern, Depart, Wolfgang Puschnigg, Friedrich Gulda, Harry Sokal, Steve Coleman's 5 Elements, Passport, Wah Wah Watson, and many more.

Drummer Jojo Mayer was born in Zurich, Switzerland, on January 18, 1963. His father was bass player Vali Mayer, who brought him on tour in Europe and eastern Asia during much of his early childhood. Naturally, the musical environment rubbed off on him; he received his first drum set at age two and made his performing debut in Hong Kong just a year later.  He relocated to New York City in 1991, and over the next few years he played and recorded with more experimental projects like the Intergalactic Maiden Ballet, the Screaming Headless Torsos, and John Medeski (Lunar Crush, a collaboration with the Torsos' David Fiuczynski), among others. He also founded Nerve, a project that integrated electronic beats with live drums and improvisation; Nerve performed at a weekly club event dubbed Prohibited Beatz, which also featured DJs spinning drum'n'bass, U.K. speed garage, and jazzy breakbeats. In the meantime, Mayer recorded with Olga Konkova, Domenico Ferrari, Harry Sokal, Sulfur, and electronica group Echo, among others.

Described as an "endeavor in reverse engineering the textures and rhythms of the current stream of computer generated music into a live performed, improvisational format", NERVE and PROHIBITED BEATZ have created a reputation in the New York scene that already goes way beyond "a serious buzz".

"Jojo has been a huge inspiration and influence to many in the know and it's great to finally hear the studio-recorded versions of these tracks. Very impressed with what was captured here. It's a modern blend of DnB electronica with organic flavors and mesmerizing beats . Many frequency ranges are well represented and pleasing to the ear. Great production. Somehow I can foresee digital artists of the future re-engineering these "reverse engineered" tracks. Brilliant!!! " writes about his art a music critic.

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