The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam (with Bill Bruford) - Go Between (1987 Nederland) [ProgRock] @320

Those who think of Bill Bruford only as art rock drummer for groups including Yes and King Crimson, fusion drummer with his late-1970s group Bruford, or even (finally, after all these years) a jazz drummer with his ongoing Earthworks projects and improvisation-heavy duets with Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap, still don't know the whole story. Those familiar with his work in the collective World Drummers Ensemble know that this iconic British percussionist has a pervasive and encyclopedic interest in anything that can be hit with a stick, something made crystal clear on this reissue of The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam's 1986 release, Go Between.

Bruford only plays on one track, the fourteen-minute title composition by Group member Rudd Wiener that, alongside Bruford's acoustic kit and percussion, features xylophone, vibraphone, marimba and bass marimba. It's a complex and episodic piece that shifts from a rhythm-heavy art rock intro to a gentler, minimalist-informed middle section, propelled forward with multiple repetitive patterns that gradually shift, Steve Reich-like, giving the piece an evocative sense of forward motion. Bolstered occasionally by Bruford's more powerful tom-toms and tympani, the two concepts come together as the tuned percussion builds into a harmonic foundation for Bruford's mathematically precise kit work, only to drop into quiet once again before the piece's conclusion—a polyrhythmic and contrapuntal tour-de-force from everyone involved.


01. Go Between (14:26)
02. Redbone (6.39)
03. Marimba Spiritual (14.03)
04. Maenaden (13.41)

Bill Bruford: acoustic drums and percussion (1)
Rudd Weiner: xylophone (1), vibraphone (1), marimba (1), bass marimba (1), percussion (3)
Peter Prommel: xylophone (1), vibraphone (1), marimba (1, 4), bass marimba (1), log drum (2), peacock gongs (2), o-daiko (3), percussion (3)
Herman Rieken: xylophone (1), vibraphone (1), marimba (1), bass marimba (1, 4), log drum (2), peacock gongs (2), shimi-daiko (3), percussion (3, 4)
Steef van Oosterhout: log drum (2), percussion (2, 4), marimba (4)
Johan Faber: log drum (2), peacock gongs (2), percussion (4)
Toon Oomen: log drum (2), percussion (2)
Keiko Abe: marimba (3)
Jan Pustjens: conductor (3)