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Swing Beat: Kweku Sumbry Beats Out a Name for Himself

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D.C. is a rhythm town, both in terms of jazz and just about every other form of Black American music. (There’s some controversy over whether it’s really a “bass town” or a “drums town,” so let’s just cover the waterfront here.) Rhythm players here tend toward a particular and distinctive kind of sound—one that puts both muscle and dance into the music’s pulse. The best ones are those who absorb that style, but in the process come out sounding like no one else.

Exhibit A: 25-year-old drummer-percussionist Kweku Sumbry.

Those who follow the local jazz music scene can’t help but know that name. Recently, Sumbry has played a lot of gigs around town; he’s practically the house drummer at Takoma Station’s Saturday night jazz concerts, and plays drums regularly in bassist Corcoran Holt’s quartet. But he’s also a known and sought-after quantity in New York, where he holds the drum chair in the band led by alto saxophonist and Blue Note Records artist Immanuel Wilkins, among the most acclaimed jazz players and bandleaders of the contemporary era. 

Wherever Sumbry plays, he brings to the kit an astonishing and virtuosic array of polyrhythms (i.e., contrasting rhythms played simultaneously) that are directly connected to West Africa. Sumbry has played the djembe, a hand drum that originated in Mali, since he was 2 years old; his cousin co-leads Farafina Kan, a West African drumming and dance ensemble based in Mount Rainier.

Though this artist has roots in West Africa, Sumbry was born and raised in the District. 

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