Carola Grey - Drum Solo Artist

Carola Grey

Born in Munich, Germany Carola started out as a very motivated classical pianist at the age of 6. When she discovered the drums at 14 it put an aprupt end to those carrier plans and she decided to study Jazz at the "Musikhochschule" in Cologne where she recieved her masters degree in music and music education. The next 6 years she spent in New York, where, besides working with numerous artists from all kind of musical directions, she also right away started her own band and began touring. In the next couple of years this should lead her all over the globe. Her CDs made it into the Top Ten of the U.S. Gavin Jazzcharts and she recieved several awards as a drummer and composer. After an invitation to work with master musician T.V.Gopalkrishnan in India in 1997 she developed a strong interest in indian music. This resulted in colaboration with musicians like singer Ravi Prasad from Paris and, together with adventures in modern club music like 'drum and bass', has had a big impact on the sound and the rhythmic of her band. It also inspired her to develop her unique rhythmical concept which is based on the fusion between her western background and her encounter with the rich indian systhem.

This concept was first released as a workshop series in the music magazine "Soundcheck" and is now awailable as a book by 'Voggenreiter' Publishings.

Selected clubs and festivals

New York "Blue Note", "Birdland", Jak Jazzfestival (Indonesia), Thailand Jazzfestival, Jazzopen Stuttgart, Burghausen Jazzfestival, Musicfestival Madras (Indien), Jak Jazz Malaysia, Indonesia Open Jazz, London Jazzfestival, Music China, Shanghai........a.o.

Colaboration with:

Mike Stern, Ravi Coltrane, Lonnie Plaxico, Craig Handy, Rocco Prestia, T.M. Stevens, Jasper vant' Hof
Stu Hamm, Wolfgang Schmid, T.V. Gopalkrishnan, Kadri Gopalnath, Gisele Jackson a.o.

Awards:

Burghausener Jazzpreis, Staatlicher Kulturfoerderpreis Bayern, Gouvernment Grand (DAAD), Nomination for the SWF Jazzpreis for "Noisy Mama", Nomination for U.S. "Jazzrockalbum of the Year '"for "Girls Can't Hit"

Selected recordings:

Noisy Mama "Noisy Mama" 1992,

Noisy Mama "The Age Of Illusions" 1994,

Maria Excommunikata "Ocean" 1995,

Noisy Mama "Girls Can't Hit" 1996,

Grey & Marsico " Happy Music" 2000,

Steve Hooks "66 Minutes of Joy" 2001,

Deirdre Cartwright Group "Precious Things" 2001,