We Are Upstate NY with Drummer, Percussionist, Composer – Harvey Sorgen

If there’s one thing that Woodstock has had in abundance, it’s a bumper crop of world-class drummers. Jazz great Jack DeJohnette, The Band’s Levon Helm, the famous (and many!) Parker Brothers and Peter Gabriel’s first call percussionist Jerry Marotta are just a few who have called the Hudson Valley home.

Another great who belongs on this illustrious list is the incredibly versatile Harvey Sorgen.

Sorgen has been an integral part of the Hudson Valley music scene since the mid-1970s. He has played on stage and on record with a who’s who of musicians in a wide range of genres, with rock and pop icons like John Sebastian, Paul Simon, Greg Allman and Bob Weir, jazz greats like Ahmad Jamal, Percy Heath and Karl Berger to a 12-year stint with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy in Hot Tuna. As he has maintained a heavy schedule of recording and international touring, Sorgen has also plied a career as an educator – hosting masterclasses both here and abroad. Harvey also played a role in the growth of Woodstock as a center for recording during his time in the 1980s at the dawn of the legendary Dreamland Studios.

Read on to learn more about his remarkable career and one of his more curious passions – lawn mowing!

When and why did you choose to lay down roots here in the Hudson Valley?

I grew up on Long Island and came up here in 1975 to study music at SUNY New Paltz. I had won a full scholarship to the Berkeley College of Music in Boston but decided not to go there. While in New Paltz, I immediately met a lot of great players and left school to take to the road – almost immediately. I always loved the area and started working a lot up here, playing gigs and doing studio work. I lived in Amsterdam and New York for a while but moved up to Woodstock full-time in 1982. I kept an apartment with another couple of musicians in NYC for a while but eventually gave that up. I’ve been in my present house, which has also served as a studio from time to time, since 1990.

When did you realize that you wanted to be a musician and how did you get your start?

I had an uncle who was a professional sax player. The story goes that when I was three, I picked up my brother’s accordion and just started to play the blues. Upon hearing this, my uncle went out the next day and bought me a piano and I started to study immediately thereafter. My true love, the drums, came into my life early in elementary school and continued to grow from there.

Who have been your biggest influences, as a drummer and a musician?

I listened to quite a wide variety of music when I was young – from the great American songbook to rock, pop and jazz. One of my teachers introduced me to Jack DeJohnette when I was about 14 which blew me away. Jack has been very supportive throughout my career. I had already checked out Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Barry Altschul, along with Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Add to that The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa among many others. These are the players that continue to inspire me.

You have worked in a wide variety of musical styles – rock, blues, roots Americana, classic jazz and free improvisation. How has your approach changed over the years moving through these many styles?

I played in a lot of R&B and rock bands when I was young, as well as jazz gigs. To me, there is always this thread of honesty that runs through true art. We can use everything we have to establish our own personal direction. I feel that this is how we begin to develop an individual voice in whatever medium we have chosen. Also, I was always drawn to rock bands with two drummers, like The Dead and The Allman Brothers. And I would try to sound like two drummers which helped me develop a kind of polyrhythmic independence, a hallmark of the improvised bands and players I love.

You have long been an integral part of the close-knit community of musicians who call the Woodstock area their home. What have been some of your favorite associations and projects, ones created with this community of players?

Wow, so many. I’ve done a lot of records with bass player Steve Rust and have played with Cindy Cashdollar, John Sebastian, Rick Danko and others on various record projects. Also, John Stubblefield, Dave Douglas, Wadada Leo Smith, Chuck Lamb and Jay Anderson. I’ve had a long fruitful relationship with pianist Marilyn Crispell and bassist Joe Fonda. And I’ve done many records with the late great Karl Berger. Honestly, the list goes on and on.

You may be best known to the general public for your work with Hot Tuna. How did that association come about and what are some of your fondest memories of recording and touring with Jorma and Jack?

My relationship with them lasted 12 years, from 1988 to around 2000. The great thing about that was I got to play with not only Jack and Jorma, but so many of my heroes who would sit in, the people I listened to growing up like Jaimoe of The Allman Brothers, Carlos Santana, The Dead’s Bob Weir. As for Hot Tuna, I met them when they were recording at Dreamland Studios. They had hired another drummer but he missed the first few days of sessions as he was also recording with Dylan at the time. The producer asked me for a recommendation and I put my own name forth. I got my drums, came back to the studio and played with them for a few hours. Then they got on their Harley’s and left (laughs)! The producer then said: “I think we’ve got about five tunes in the can so maybe you should talk to the record label about money?” They then invited me to play a gig at The Chance in Poughkeepsie and that was it. We did a lot of touring, 2 – 3 times a year on our own, then others with The Allmans, The Band and the Furthur Fests. Interestingly, it was Jack who turned me on to a gig with the great jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal during this time.

You are also an educator, a leader of workshops at many prestigious universities and festivals here and abroad. What have been some of your most rewarding teaching experiences and what role does it play in your life today?

I’ve done quite a few workshops and masterclasses, mainly in Europe in Helsinki, Berlin, Vienna and Basel and the like. I have an exciting one coming up as a part of the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp here at the Full Moon Resort. I’ll be teaching improv skills and also be in the rhythm section backing performances by guitarists like Julian Lage and Bill Frisell to name a few.

You have enjoyed a long working relationship with Dreamland, one of the regions, and the world’s, most esteemed recording studios, both as a session man and a tech. What were some of your favorite projects from your time there?

I was there in the beginning, for a four-year period from the mid-to late-80s. I knew the owner Joel Bluestein really well and had done records at his original home studio on Wittenberg Road. I worked closely with Joel and the masterful Dave Cook, now at Area 52 Studios, as an assistant engineer and learned a massive amount from them. I have great memories working on projects with 10,000 Maniacs, NRBQ, Robin Trower, with the great Eddie Kramer producing, and the Parallel Realities album with Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette and Herbie Hancock. Here and at some other studios in the area, I was often called on to help get the drum sounds for recordings and, on a few projects to remain unnamed, I actually subbed for the band’s drummers to record the more challenging parts. But being in the studio was seven days a week, 24-hour-a-day commitment. I found I couldn’t do both that and be a touring/recording musician. So, I ultimately chose the latter.

You are also a composer. What is your writing process and how has it changed over the years?

I mainly write structures for improv on the piano, simple lines that encourage a direction. These are melodic and rhythmic pieces that deal with a period of time, say 15 seconds to a minute. It’s about learning how to feel time, and letting your playing breathe and to work beyond the bar lines. I look at all instruments like wind instruments. It’s all about getting players to be aware of the breath in their playing, as individuals and as a collective ensemble.

What are some of your favorite venues to play and also to see live music here in the Hudson Valley?

I love Live at the Falcon and was just there with my trio with pianist Marilyn Crispell. The late Tony Falco was a great, great man and I give his son Lee a lot of credit for keeping the club going as he works to forge his own direction as a player and producer. I’ve had amazing experiences at Levon’s Barn, especially this past New Year’s gig with Cindy Cashdollar. I just played the Hudson Valley Jazz Festival with guitarist Billy Stein at the Library in Warwick, a sell-out crowd and great sound. I love playing Caffe Lena in Saratoga and Lydia’s Café in Stone Ridge. What the Full Moon Resort is doing with its art camps is exciting, something that is bringing in an international crowd. But I really miss a few old places, most notably The Joyous Lake and Café Espresso.

What three albums have most inspired you and why?

Tough question but what immediately comes to mind is Forest Flower by Charles Lloyd with Jack DeJohnette on drums and also Japan Suite, a live album from the mid-1970s by pianist Paul Bley with Barry Altschul on drums. Zappa’s Hot Rats was really inspirational. And, of course, I have to add something from the Grateful Dead. My favorite is Workingman’s Dead. Ok, so four!

What are you working on now that you’re most excited about? And is there anything left that you feel you really haven’t done as a musician?

I would have to say that it’s not what I haven’t done, it’s the fact that I am constantly searching for new avenues of expression. I am excited about a few recent projects. I have a new record with pianist Walter Thompson and bassist Steve Rust recorded with Dave Cook at Area 52 in Saugerties. I’m also getting ready to record a duo disc with Marilyn Crispell. And what I am doing with clarinetist Christophe Rocher and bassist Joe Fonda. We have two tours and a new record in the works. Right now, I’m spending more time than I have in decades on my instrument, keeping my body and playing fluid, and learning more about the instrument and myself.

What is it about the Hudson Valley that makes it unique to live + work here?

It’s culturally and environmentally gorgeous, with a growing international connection and presence.

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

More situations where younger folks can afford to live and work here. Young people and that energy is what made this area what is today. We have to come up with a situation where younger people can afford to come up here and build their personal and artistic lives. With the economy the way it is, they can’t seem to do that now.

Who or what inspires you personally?

My wife’s empathy is incredibly inspiring.

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know.

I take my lawn mowing very seriously. I got inspired by a visit to Storm King and mow the grass at different heights. The higher ones turn golden in the fall. It’s really a joy for me – seriously.

What is your favorite non-musical activity?

Everything is musical. Sound, the passing of time + breathing are the essences of music and life.

Photos: Michael Patrick Kelly, Rudy Lu and Francesco Padroni. The Top Featured photo by Michael Patrick Kelly

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