Drummer and percussionist Alan Purves (Edinburgh,12 September 1952) bought his first drum kit when he was 18. As a child he always dreamed of playing the drums but his family couldn’t afford it. He therefore taught himself how to drum by hitting knitting needles on any surface he could find. In 1975 he moved to Amsterdam and he performed there with dance and theatre groups as well as various kinds of bands. While improvising he finds his way in all kinds of genres, from jazz and rock to Irish traditional music and non-western folk music. He played and continues to play in groups with: the late Sean Bergin, Ernst Reijsiger, Sail Joya, Peggy Larson, Han Buhrs, Joost Buis and in theatre projects by Jango Edwards, the Footsbarn theatre and the Japanese Shusaka & Dormu Dance Theatre, Leonie Jansen and Henny Vrienten and Corrie van Binsbergen. As a percussionist or ‘squeecologist’ he attracts attention by using his large collection of special instruments: squeaking rubber toys, humming plastic tubes, water bottles, nose flutes, Jew’s harps and ankle bells to name a few. He also performs on self-made instruments such as the brimbram, rockin’ chair and glockenspiel guitar. He has released three solo albums.
Playlist:
– Hoagy Carmichael, Hong Kong Blues
– Jimmy Hendrickx experience, Still raining’, still dreaming
– Alan Purves, Amar Rockin
– Modern Jazz Quartet, Plastic dream
– Frank Zappa, Peaches ®alia
– The Beatles, Still my guitar gently wheeps
