ORIOL ROCA SOLO

“The most significant part of his solo work is that we are faced with one of the few drummers- and musicians in general – capable of constructing with his instrument a beautiful and poetic narrative discourse.” Martí Farré, Nativa (ESP)

Barcelona born drummer Oriol Roca had no intention to release a solo album. He didn’t even plan to perform solo, for that matter. And yet, La Tomba dei Giganti is his first outing under his own name. In August 2009, Paolo Angeli, an amazing Italian improviser, invited Oriol to perform at Isole che Parlano, an arts festival held in the tiny village of Palau, in the Italian island of Sardinia. Italian sound engineer Roberto Monari happened to be there with his recording equipment to document the festival. Oriol was struck to recognize himself so strongly in the music, and he realized it was closer to the way he felt about music than anything else he’d ever done before. And thats how Roca’s first ever solo album, recorded on the evening of his first ever solo performance, came to be.

When playing solo Roca expands his set using all kinds of cymbals, different drums, objects, metal bars, plastic bags, stones, toys, bags of sand, a cheap wood flute, kitchen utensils, mini bells, Chinese sticks, an original 22″ Paiste gong from 70’s a good friend gave him… anything capable of creating sound is welcome to explore in a free musical form the infinite possibilities of textures, density, dynamics we’re all surrounded by.

ORIOL ROCA: drums, percussion and objects

“Oriol Roca is a drummer with a simmering sensitivity that does not lack muscle. His playing has continued to send us back to one of the greatest percussionists known to free music, the huge Barry Altschul, whose Oriol appears today as the obvious successor.” Focus Vif (BE)

“Perhaps it’s the restraint displayed by Roca that makes his solo album so compelling, but the forty minutes flew right by and I was sad when the album ended.” All About Jazz (USA)

“Oriol Roca, drummer although it would be better to define him as percussionist, of which I have always thought that he has a great instinctive intelligence, (listen to his solo album La Tomba dei Giganti).” Germán Lázaro, Cuadernos de Jazz (ESP)

“Oriol Roca is a drummer and a percussionist continuously looking for new colors.” Claude Loxhay, Jazzaround (BE)

“Oriol Roca bounces from one rhythmic to the next, coloring more than hitting, draws air movements more than he structures.” Diane Gastellu, Citizenjazz (FR)

“Oriol Roca is undoubtedly an energetic and creative drummer.” Joël Plagier, Jazzman Magazine (FR)

“Roca enters into another complex and unpredictable series of patterns which would serve most other drummers as a solo, but here it’s simply his agile contribution to the landscape.” Dave Foxall, Jazz Journal (UK)

“I’ve been poking around drummer Oriol Roca‘s music for a couple years now, and he always finds a way to gain interest.” Dave Summer, Bird is the Worm (USA)

“The drummer Oriol Roca is not only building an interesting musical career within our country in groups like MUT Trio, or with Giulia Valle and David Mengual to name a few. It also has recognition beyond our borders with groups such as VRAK Trio, the Piccola Orchestra Gagarin, or with the pianist Giovanni Di Domenico.” Pachi Tapiz, Tomajazz (ESP)

“Oriol Roca is an exceptional drummer: flexible and perfectly at ease in polyrhythms and very capable of playing even outside the pulse, a perfect shoulder for other musicians.” Andrea Aguzzi, Italia Paperblog (IT)

ALBUMS