Abbey Rader

Abbey Rader (October 14, 1943) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer.

Throughout his childhood and early career, he worked in New York City where loft jazz, bebop, and free jazz influenced him.

Rader started playing traditional jazz gigs in the early 1960s, typically piano/bass/drum or saxophone/organ/drum trios, which exposed him to a variety of musicians that subtly influenced his style.

His education went beyond music into spirituality.

Rader met drummer Clarence "Scoby" Strohman while playing opposite the Marin Rivers trio.

Strohman introduced Rader to books like Light on the Path by Mabel Collins and Paramahansa Yogananda's The Autobiography of a Yogi, which helped begin Rader's spiritual journey.

Rader recalls an anecdote that touched his confidence as well.

"My music reading skills were not very good, but Scoby had lots of faith in me. He stood behind me on the bandstand one night as I started to play acts with lots of music to read. Scoby said, "That's not a problem for you.

That's nothing for you." I played remarkably well that night. I said to Scoby, "Did you see those difficult charts I read?", and he said he couldn't read a note. So I learned something else about the spiritual power and the power of the mind."

Rader recalls that hearing John Coltrane's quartet with Elvin Jones at the Half Note Club was a moment that changed his musical expression to improvisation and searching for the union between mind, spirit, and body.

The free jazz in style at the time influenced Rader.

He started playing in the mid-70s loft jazz movement, which led him to create his first album as a band leader, a recording entitled The Thing.

He decided that to continue to play his free style of music, moving to Europe would provide opportunities not available in the U.S. With nothing but a drum set and $500, he traveled to London and later published The Thing for Atmosphere Records while in Paris.

From France, he moved to Germany, initially playing with Bob Lenox in Lenox's rock and funk pieces.

His desire to continue playing free jazz brought Rader to drumming with George Bishop in improvised duet performances.

He played and taught across Europe in the 1970s and 1980s and then returned to North America to create music that combines free jazz, martial arts, and Buddhism.

He has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and has worked with Dave Liebman, John Handy, Billy Bang, Dr. L. Subramaniam, and Mal Waldron in a career spanning over four decades.

In the 1980s, he worked with alto saxophonist, John Handy; violinist, L. Subramaniam; and bassist, Sigi Busch.

Handy encouraged Rader to play powerfully, asking him to play drum solos behind his saxophone as they toured Europe.

Later, Rader spent five years in the Gunter Hampel Big Band that included Jeanne Lee and Marion Brown.

Rader's next lesson came from playing with Mal Waldron and Marc Levin, a NYC friend, on trumpet.

As Rader described, Mal often helped Rader put life's tribulations in perspective and encouraged him to play freely, to transform the energy he might be feeling by channeling it into his drumming.

During this time, Rader started his Abbey Rader's Right Time band.

He recorded several times with this band and established record label Abray Productions.

He also became a touring clinician for Sonor and Tosco (later Sabian, see: UFIP) cymbals, and taught at multiple universities in Germany.

During his teaching, he frequently featured improvisational artists he worked with to teach how to improvise on music tracks a band may play.

Rader met his wife and raised two sons in Germany, and then moved to South Florida in 1989.

In the 1990s and 2000s he recorded with David Liebman, putting out four CDs together.

He then spent nearly five years with violinist Billy Bang in the Jazz Doctors.

In this group, Rader replaced recently deceased Dennis Charles; other band members included Frank Lowe on saxophone and bass player Ed Schuller.

Their first album, Live at PAX, was named one of the Best of 2012.

Abbey Rader was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and raised in the Bronx where he moved when he was six months old.

His introduction to drumming began early, as his father was a band leader and drummer.

Before this, his quartet featuring John McMinn, Noah Brandmark and Kyle Motl released their second recording, Reach for the Skies a runner-up for Album of Year in 2013.

The Message, was released in August 2014 and is a recording of his live January 2014 radio performance on Evenin' Jazz with the Real Tracy Fields at WLRN Miami.

The Message was named one of the Best of 2014 by Avant Music News.

Rader's album First Gathering was named one of the Best of 2015.

It's the first album from his West Coast Quartet with Peter Kuhn, Kyle Motl and Drew Ceccato.

His album, Reunion, was released on July 23, 2016 and is a recording of his live October 31, 2012 performance at PAX: Performing Arts Exchange in Miami, Florida.

This was an improvised performance including Kidd Jordan, John McMinn, Kyle Motl, and Noah Brandmark.