The drums are often considered as the founding instrument of jazz. From the beginning, in the plantations of the American South, the slaves accompany their songs while stamping their feet. Soon, the voice and drum will become the first instruments that will carry the clamor of revolt.
The drums are the instrument of jazz, invented by jazz for jazz, with a subtle combination of wood, skin and metal. It is she who builds the rhythm and gives shape to time.
Photographer Christian Ducasse has covered hundreds of concerts for various specialty magazines. Revisiting his archives, he perceived how drummers were a great family, a "world", which released, all regions and all periods combined, a specific sensitivity, perceptible in looks and gestures.
Conceived as a visual story, mixing scene images, portraits, intimate snapshots, this book alternates photographs and testimonies of musicians who express their approach to rhythm and percussion.
Franck Medioni's texts, which punctuate the various sequences, evoke the importance of drums and percussive instruments in the evolution of the different streams of jazz.