Scottish drummer/percussionist Alan Purves is one of the many expatriates on the Amsterdam jazz scene, and while not as ubiquitous as Michael Vatcher or Han Bennink, turns up in a variety of aggregations, notably Joost Buis's brilliant Astronotes, the spirited New Dutch Western Swing of Bite the Gnatze, and the rather dodgy Dutch-Canadian band Aros.



Biography:

Alan Purves, also named Gunga, is a Scottish composer and percussionist, a musical omnivore who feels comfortable with almost any style. For about thirty years he's played rock 'n roll, reggae, jazz and improvised music. He doesn't study licks or styles, but his musical activities show his affinity for ethnic rhythms. He joined Palinckx in 2000.



A long stint with South African Sax player Sean Bergin, with Portuguese singer Fernando Lameirinhas, with the American sax player John Zorn with his Massada and Cobra projects and with trumpet player Rajesh Metha, whose rhythms have an Indian touch. In Sardinia he recorded with local vocal quartets and cellist Ernst Reijseger (a longtime booster and duopartner). He jammed with a Transylvanian Gypsy band at the Bimhuis, accompanied Jodi Gilbert on songs inspired by a California Indian and played with Argentinian bandoneon player Gustavo Toker. He often performs with Ernst Reijseger and trombone player Wolter Wierbos. His arsenal reaches back into everybody's past: children's squeeze toys and whirly tubes, whistles, small drums from everywhere, Chinese-opera cymbals, pairs of "bones" he clacks in either hand like a proper Scot.