Sired by a father who danced a wicked Tango, Gerry was born with sticks in his hand and a rose between his teeth. His musical odyssey through the rust belt took him from a borrowed snare drum in his parents basement to the prestigious music factory at Indiana University. It was here, under the tutelage of session monster Kenny Aronoff and jazz great David Baker,
that Gerry's unique voice emerged. After receiving
his degree in drumset performance, Gerry
returned to his native Cleveland to co-found the
super-hip indie rock outfit, Dakota Floyd.
When not laying down popalicious
grooves for the female-fronted trio,
Gerry could be found weaving rhythms with
renowned Senegalese griot, Alassane Sarr,
in the West African band "Smoking Wolofs."
Whether it's an intense polyrhythm, or a laid back
juke joint shuffle, Gerry commands the kit and
plays from the heart.
 		 
 
              
 

I love laying down simple grooves in the seven member band Artichoke, but there's a certain freedom that comes with playing in a small group. And I couldn't get much smaller than 2 and still call it a group. So I've been working on my own project of duets that involve the drumset and one other instrument. This tune,"Something Like," and video are the first of hopefully several of my duets. This one is vocals and drums.

The rhythm I chose is loosely based on a samba however I wanted to see if I could stretch out of the latin or latin jazz genre. And that is exactly why I asked indie rocker Liz Whitman (of Kiddo fame) to join me on this one. She sang a simple jump-rope-like melody and I said "That's it. Perfect."

It's live (although there is one vocal overdub) and we took two takes (thanks to Dave at Scorpio Studio in Cleveland, OH.) We liked take #1 the best.

My brush technique on this track is not exactly traditional. And that is the point. I wanted to take a simple idea (the kick pattern of a samba) and stretch it into something else.