First Steps

Before I played the drums I was a dancer, and in a way, I still feel like the drums are my expression of movement. I can’t sit still. There is an urge to move, to express, to connect.

I think there is beauty in taking the first step — whether you’re dancing by yourself or with someone else. The subtle interplay between leading and following remains a mystery for the observer but to the initiator that mystery also means moving in solitude.

2020 felt like an uncertain choreography. We had to practice slow-dancing by ourselves and learn to maneuver without reference. It dictated its own movement and made us more aware of our fundamental need for one another and how much we desired our dance partners.

First Steps has two faces. The first is music inspired by traditional folkloric dances and their rhythms — sometimes as celebration, sometimes spiritual, but always expressive. The second are reflections on life and what we have gone through in the past year where the recurring message was: keep moving, keep flowing, be flexible.

Music is my first step to connect to you, the listener, the observer, the dance partner. Perhaps in person, maybe from afar, but always in spirit.

I hope it will move and inspire you to connect and dance more often.

Personnel:

Philippe Lemm - Drums

Angelo Di Loreto - Piano

Jeff Koch - Bass

Simon Moullier - Vibes (The Kiln + Kalief)

Keita Ogawa - Percussion (August)