Frank Rosaly

Frank Rosaly is a drummer, composer, bandleader, sideman, and sound designer based in Amsterdam. His approach to composition weds jazz, classical percussion, improvisation, electronics, and post-classical techniques. After arriving in Chicago in 2001 he created Molk Records. He issued One and Two in 2005, and in 2006 followed it with Boombox Babylon in duo with Tim Daisy. The acclaimed Milkwork appeared in 2010. Rosaly has worked with many greats on Chicago's music scene, including Jason Adasiewicz, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeb Bishop, and Josh Abrams. He released 2013's Cicada Music on Delmark and followed with 2015's Malo. He emigrated to Amsterdam in 2016 and released the collaborative ... Don't Buy Him a Parrot ... with Christoph Erb and Jim Baker in 2017. 2019's Northern Duets with Daisy was followed by 2024's MESTIZX, an eponymous effort from his long-gestating duo project with spouse/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti. Rosaly was born in Puerto Rico in 1974 but raised in Phoenix, Arizona after his parents moved to the U.S. His mother Carmen was a secretary, and his father Francisco was an accountant. He began playing drums in elementary school and continued his studies at Thunderbird High School before graduating in 1992. He worked the Flagstaff and Phoenix music scenes for a time before relocating to Los Angeles for several years. A highlight of the period was studying drums and percussion with jazz great Billy Higgins. He returned to Arizona for a couple of years, playing in composer/bassist Joel DiBartolo's Raging Jazz Project -- that also included future Big Gigantic founder Dominic Lalli. Rosaly relocated again in 2001, this time to Chicago, where he quickly became an integral part of the city's vast music and theater scenes. He worked in jazz, vanguard, and indie rock bands as a touring and studio sideman. He formed Thread Quintet with Keefe Jackson, Brian Dibblee, Nick Broste, and Dave Rempis. Their debut, Long Lines, appeared in 2003. That same year he, bassist Dibblee, and clarinetist Jon Doyle formed Design Flaw and issued Ends Meet. Both albums were released on Future Reference Recordings. Over the next several years, Rosaly worked clubs with indie rockers and jazz players. In 2005 alone he played with the Rempis Percussion Quartet on Circular Logic, Lonberg-Holm's trio on Other Valentines, and Steve Dawson's group on Sweet Is the Anchor. 2005 was the year Rosaly created Molk Records and released One and Two, his debut EP, recorded completely solo on drums and electronics. He worked with Boxhead Ensemble on Nocturnes, Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens on Ready Everyday, and Rempis Percussion Quartet's Rip Tear Crunch. Rosaly and drummer Tim Daisy released Boombox Babylon on Utech Records, and Rosaly followed with Solo. In 2007 he continued to record and tour with Lonberg-Holm's trio and Jackson's group. He served in Matana Roberts' band on her Chicago Project debut alongside Josh Abrams, Jeff Parker, and "Baba" Fred Anderson. In 2008, Rosaly began working with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz (in Rolldown) and played in bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten's quintet on The Year of the Boar. In 2009, Rosaly and Jackson issued the single "Duo" on Molk, and cut the album Cyrillic in another duo, this one with saxophonist Rempis. That year also saw the release of Rosaly's Milkwork, a solo recital on drums and electronics. He also appeared with Lonberg-Holm's orchestra on the live albums At the Hideout and At Elastic Arts, as well as on Varmint by Jason Adaswiecz's Rolldown. Over the next couple of years, Rosaly was ubiquitous on the Chicago scene and elsewhere. He made his debut with Abrams on Natural Information, and replaced Paal Nilssen-Love in Scorch Trio on Melaza and In Norway (the latter also featured Mars Williams). He also made records with singer-songwriter Joan of Arc and Nick Mazzarella, and released Sack in collaboration with Lonberg-Holm, Erb, and Jason Roebke. In 2012, Rosaly issued the solo drum and electronics masterwork Centering and Displacement on Utech. Acclaimed globally, it established him as a composer as well as a drum guru. He also cut another volume of At the Hideout with Bishop, Jaap Blonk, and Lou Mallozzi. In 2013 Rosaly served as drummer in the Joshua Abrams Quartet on the Rogue Art release Unknown Known, recorded Phalanx with the Rempis Percussion Quartet, and joined Nicole Mitchell's Ice Crystal on Aquarius. That year, Rosaly released the globally lauded Cicada Music on Delmark. He played drums, electronics, and piano on the date; Adasiewicz was featured on vibraphone, Jason Stein, Keefe Jackson, and James Falzone on clarinets, and Roebke on bass. He also released the digital Viscous on Molk, offering a different ensemble that included Falzone alongside trumpeter Jaimie Branch, oboist Kyle Bruckmann, and cellist Kevin Davis. Rosaly stretched out over the next couple of years. In 2014 and 2015 he played on no less than 23 recordings. Among the most popular were Primrose Green by Ryley Walker, Afterimage by Pandelis Karayorgis, Automaginary by Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas, The Delaware River by Bobby Bradford and Frode Gjerstad's quartet, and Malo, a solo date on Utech. He also co-founded the band Young Mothers, an experimental sextet with Håker Flaten, and issued the band's debut, A Mothers Work Is Never Done. Rosaly left the U.S. for Amsterdam in 2016. He continued to travel to the states for session and live work. He played on Walker's Golden Sings That Have Been Sung cut Hearts & Minds in a duo with Stein; Shipwreck 4 with bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, trumpeter Darren Johnston, and saxophonist Aaron Bennet; Marshmallow Moon with Thurston Moore; and Labrys with guitarist Shane Parish. The following year Rosaly was busy with both his own projects and his established ones. He joined Josh Abrams & Natural Information Society on the globally celebrated Simultonality; cut ... Don't Buy Him a Parrot ... and Parrots Paradise with Christoph Erb and Jim Baker; Cochonnerie with Rempis Percussion Quartet; and Twins with saxophonists Fred Jackson, Jr. and Stéphane Payen, and drummer/percussionist Edward Perraud. Young Mothers released Morose, their second album, in 2018, and ICOCI with Rempis and guitarist/bassist Jasper Stadhouders. Though he released only two albums under his own name in 2019, Rosaly was prolific over the next few years. He released ¡Todos de Pie! with his big band and Codes/Myths in duo with Rempis. But Rosaly played on more than a dozen other recordings over the next three years by Bishop, Mazzarella, Blonk, Tim Stine, Abrams, Walker, and Rempis Percussion Quartet. The drummer released Sunday at de Ruimte in 2021, a live festival recording with pianist Marta Warelis, bassist Aaron Lumley, and saxophonist John Dikeman. In 2022, Rosaly served in the Meral Polat Trio for the album Ez Kî Me. The following year, he and Ferragutti formed Silverbones with bassist Janneke de Jonge, guitarist Liu Mottes, and synthesist Jochem van Tol; the band released an eponymous album on Molk. He rejoined the Rempis Percussion Quartet on the double-length Harvesters. In January 2024, the album Futuro Ancestrale on Clean Feed, featured a live performance from 2022 by Rosaly, saxophonist Giuseppe Doronzo, and guitarist Andy Moor. The drummer joined bassist Ruth Goller for the duet on "I Have for You: Simple Truth," the final track on Skyllumina, her International Anthem debut. In May, Rosaly and Ferragutti released MESTIZX, on International Anthem through Nonesuch. The album forged an evocative and innovative exploration of its participants' cultural identities from Bolivia and Brazil (both reflect Ferragutti's ancestry) as well as Puerto Rico. Using sonic rituals, the duo created it as a love letter to their ancestors past, present, and future while recognizing the burden of inherent colonial presences on their lands, people, and traditions.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo