Drummer personifies emerging artistry

Two weeks ago to the day, I was sitting at the bar in the Charleston Grill chatting with David Patterson.

I've always enjoyed speaking with the 26-year-old drummer, but even more so now. He's always been a man of few words, but I've come to believe that he simply prefers to listen.

That's what the good ones do.

He was almost effusive, though, that night. He had just walked over from his gig at Mercato to check out what his colleagues at the Grill were doing, a long-standing tradition in jazz.

In fact, you can catch David at the North Market Street fine eatery as many as three nights a week. He often works Tuesdays in the Frank Duvall Trio and Thursdays and Fridays with vocalist Ann Caldwell and her band LooseFitt.

Mercato is one of the biggest supporters of live jazz, offering it seven nights a week at no charge, and it hosts many other fine drummers, including Stuart White, Ron Wiltrout and Nick Jenkins with various bands.

David's sound is tasty. It has boundless energy that comes through idiosyncratic accents, efficient use of space and rhythmic patterns steeped in a Lowcountry aesthetic.

I reviewed for The Post and Courier a concert LooseFitt performed at Gallery Chuma in October 2007.

I wrote of David's work:

"Patterson, a young drummer who is getting better with every gig, played polyrhythmically and in different meters, adding some melodic angularity and rhythmic dissonance to an otherwise lyrical performance."

To me, he plays the drum kit like Thelonious Monk played the piano: rhythm-based, church-like grooves full of surprises, both comedic and tragic.

David was born to a military family in Fayetteville, N.C., and he grew up in the Charleston area. Since age 5, he's been playing at Mt. Zion Holiness Church.

He graduated from West Ashley High School in 2001 and studied jazz performance at C of C from 2002 until 2006. He's also worked with the gospel group Integrity, Charleston Stage Company, Unkle Funkle and the Mickey Baker Project, among others.

Most interesting to me, however, is his uncanny improvisational rapport to work with singers. He comps and colors them in ways that they just love. He not only stays out of the way of their phrasings and intonations, he reinforces them as he keeps time and propels the instrumentalists.

Along with Ann, Robin Harris and Bobbie Storm say they just delight in working with him.

Another of David's salient characteristics is courage. You can't do what he does in the way that he does it if you're afraid. You have to have faith in your abilities to communicate and execute.

A jazz musician can only learn and demonstrate that trait on the bandstand.

In April of last year, I saw David pass a test of fire that just confirmed for me that he has what it takes.

The occasion was the Charleston Jazz Orchestra's tribute to Count Basie at the Charleston Music Hall. Until David played that night, Quentin Baxter had been the only occupant of the drum chair in CJO, a popular, highly acclaimed resident 20-piece band.

Not only was he under a lot of pressure sitting in for Quentin, he was facing an extended solo in the very first tune of the show that was the song's centerpiece and would set the tone for the entire evening.

It was "Whirley Bird," a famous Basie song featuring Charleston drummer Rufus "Speedy" Jones who authored the signature solo in 1965. If that wasn't enough, he knew Quentin had smoked it in 2008 as the same tune kicked off the debut concert of the CJO prototype, the Charlton Singleton Orchestra.

David nailed it.

The audience roared and the band beamed its approval with admiring glances and smiles shown his way as he emerged from the thrall of being completely immersed in his work.

He must have been seething inside while in the depths of the solo but it didn't show. He didn't smile or frown. He was stoic. He just led the band into the next chorus as if he had just finished a walk in the park.

There's a long tradition of jazz drumming in Charleston. David is headed toward becoming an integral part of that. He has all the tools.

Above all else, he just sounds so good. Add to that the notion that he seems poised to emerge as one of the great ones, you feel blessed to have seen him at the start and middle of his inexorable march toward excellence.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.