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Jorge Rossy

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jorge Rossy, also called Jordi, is a Spanish jazz drummer, pianist and vibraphonist, born in 1964 in Barcelona. His father and sister played piano at home. He began on drums at eleven and got a drum kit a year later. At fourteen he bought a cheap vibraphone, which he practised on for two years. He then took up the trumpet, to learn to listen better. Between 1980 and 1989 he toured extensively with Spanish jazz musicians and with international names such as Woody Shaw and Kenny Wheeler.

Music and breakthrough

In 1989 he went to Boston to study trumpet at the Berklee College of Music, but within two years he chose drums. He played in Danilo Pérez's trio and for two years in Paquito D'Rivera's sextet. In 1991 he moved to New York and played on early recordings by contemporaries such as Mark Turner, Chris Cheek and Kurt Rosenwinkel. In 1995 he began touring and recording with the Brad Mehldau Trio. He also worked with Joshua Redman and with Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Joe Lovano and Chick Corea.

Influence

In 2000 Rossy went back to Barcelona to bring up his family and to concentrate more on piano. In 2006 he recorded his first album as a leader, with Albert Sanz on Hammond organ. Later releases included Stay There, his first recording on vibraphone, and Beyond Sunday. His career shows how a European jazz musician made a place for himself in the New York scene of the 1990s and later returned to his own city.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a recording by the Brad Mehldau Trio from the 1990s and notice the drums: Rossy plays lightly and sensitively, reacts to the piano and does not lay down a fixed pattern.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists