LIVE: The Bopitude Drum Battle @ The Egg, 2/1/14

By Greg Haymes On Feb 11, 2014

Yep. That's a lot of drums. — Yep. That’s a lot of drums.

Review and photographs by Rudy Lu

The Greater Nippertown area indeed has been blessed with a wealth of talented musicians. And a goodly number of them were certainly displayed on Saturday, February 1, when Michael Benedict hosted a quartet of guest drummer-percussionists backed by his band Bopitude in concert at The Egg in Albany.

Modeled after the famous jazz drum battles in the 1950s and ’60s at Birdland, the concert featured Mark Foster, Pete Sweeney and Bob Halek on trap drum kits, as well as percussionist Brian Melick.

The virtuoso band Bopitude – featuring Brian Patneaude on tenor saxophone, Chris Pasin on trumpet, Dave Gleason on piano and Mike Lawrence on bass – was also prominently featured, with bandleader Michael Benedict pulling triple-duty – on both drums and vibes, as well as serving as emcee of the event.

This was the second Bopitude Drum Battle, the debut performance having taken place at Schenectady’s Van Dyck back in October. Where will the next performance be, Mike?

SEE MORE:
More of Rudy Lu’s photographs at Albany Jazz