JEFF SIPE
JEFF SIPE
[http://www.myspace.com/jeffsipetrio]
Jeff Sipe, besides being one hell of a great drummer, is a pivotal figure spanning a variety of genres, including Southern rock, jam bands, avant-garde rock, avant-garde jazz, and even progressive bluegrass. No wonder, that, when Sipe throws one of his semi-annual Zambiland Orchestra events, just about everyone in Atlanta who plays a musical instrument shows up. For years the drummer was best know as Apt. Q258–those in the know called him “Apartment” for short–and was associated primarily with the shenanigans of brilliant bandleader, instumentalist and singer Colonel Bruce Hampton. Later affiliations have included Jazz is Dead, the collaborative Hellborg-Sipe-Lane trio, Leftover Salmon and the combo of blues guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Beginning with the progressive rock style of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Sipe followed a listening trail into jazz fusion territory, which introduced him to drum masters who would inevitably serve as his great influences, players such as Jack DeJohnette, Tony Williams, and Billy Cobham. In the second half of the 70′s, Sipe began attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston, studing under Bob Kaufman, Bill Norine, Alan Dawson, and Lee Venters as well as establishing playing connections with a list of students who included Branford Marsalis, Bill Frisell, and Mike Stern. The drummner gigged in a wedding band with Victor Bailey and began the first fusion combo of his own, featuring guitarist Steve Vai. Sipe’s Boston period lasted until 1983 when he relocated to Atlanta, teaching at the Atlanta Institute for Music and meeting the previously mentioned Bruce Hampton through keyboardist Dan Wall. Bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarist Jimmy Herring became involved in a band that came to be know as the Aquarium Rescue Unit. The compelling musical force that aficionados called ARU was at times lumped in with the jam band scene but was unique among groups in this genre in terms of both repertoire and interpretation, taking vintage gospel ballads and playing them at breakneck speed, to describe one of many approaches to on-stage excitement. Four albums and a calendar packed with live dates was the ARU legacy. In 1996, Sipe moved on to a collaboration with the Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg, and Memphis guitartist Shawn Lane. His reputation growing, the drummer was soon brought in to fill out the rhythm section in Leftover Salmon, another popular group on the jam band scene that played styles such as bluegrass and Cajun. Sipe’s presence in this group was an extension of earlier attempts to bring drums into the bluegrass context, an innovation that had be considered controversial in groups such as the Osborne Brothers. Former bandmate Herring teamed up with the drummer on a project called Z, often referred to as Project Z, and Sipe also began gigging with Tedeschi. Zambiland Orchestra, an experimental big band that became known for year-end bashes in Atlanta has involved members of Phish, Widespread Panic, Michael Ray & the Cosmic Krewe, and the Derek Trucks Band, among others.