Franklin Kiermyer
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Franklin Kiermyer (born 21 July 1956) is a jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader.


Biography

Born and raised in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Kiermyer first gained attention in 1994 with his album Solomon's Daughter, featuring tenor saxophonist and former
John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...
bandmate
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. Known mostly for his particularly expansive style of drumming and the passionate spiritual focus of his music, he has performed and recorded with many prominent jazz musicians and musicians from other cultures, including Umdze Lodro Samphel,
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, John Abercrombie,
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, Chris Gekker, John Esposito, Otto Gardner, Davis Whitfield, Géraud Portal,
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, Yasushi Nakamura, Jovan Alexandre,
Billy Harper Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biography ''AllMusi ...
, Emilio Modeste, Lawrence Clark,
Juini Booth Arthur Edward Booth Jr. (February 12, 1948 – July 11, 2021) was an American jazz bassist. His professional name was Juini Booth, though his nickname has been spelled Jiunie, Junie, Joony, Jooney, Joonie, Juni, Juney, and Junius, over the course ...
, Benito Gonzalez,
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, Fima Ephron, Evan Flory-barnes, Dave Fiuzcynski, Famoro Dioubate, Umdze Lodro Samphel,
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, Anthony Cox, Benny Barbara,
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, Michael Stuart,
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, John Rojak, Hill Greene, Dom Richards, Ivan Symonds, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Debashish Battacharya, and Jatheeya Billy Robinson. Mostly self-taught, Kiermyer cites the early influence of drummers
Baby Dodds Warren "Baby" Dodds (December 24, 1898 – February 14, 1959) was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is regarded as one of the best jazz drummers of the pre-big band era. He varied his drum patterns with accents and f ...
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. ''"All of these drummers had a big beat. It felt loose, spontaneous and sure at the same time and I really responded to that. I’ve always gone for that feeling of power and release in my own playing.”'' The music of
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and
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, as well as various orchestral music played in his parents' home magnetized his childhood. Growing up in the 60's and 70's he was also greatly affected by the psychedelic freedom music of Jimi Hendrix and other improvisers of the era and the social-political revolution they espoused. In his early teens, his older brother gave him books about Tibetan Buddhism that led him to a life-long practice of meditation that would intensify over the years. Around the same time, a close friend introduced him to the mid-60’s music of the John Coltrane Quartet with drummer Elvin Jones. This music had an immediate, profound and lasting impact and greatly helped shape his musical focus. “Records like Transition, Sun Ship and First Meditations became great inspirations for me. This felt like real spiritual music – a spiritual practice of using honesty and faith to transcend concepts and get to the heart of things. That openness, honesty and faith became my goal.” ''Kiermyer'' Having reached a turning point in his evolution, Kiermyer spent much of 2001 to 2010 in remote Himalayan regions of Nepal and India on various solitary Buddhist meditation retreats, following the instructions of his teacher
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche (; 1 March 1934 – 22 June 2024) was a Tibetan scholar yogi in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He taught widely in the West, often through songs of realization, his own as well as those composed by Mi ...
. His musical output during this time was minimal. Kiermyer has stated that he felt this period was instrumental in reaching his spiritual and musical goals.


Franklin Kiermyer & Scatter The Atoms That Remain

Scatter The Atoms That Remain is Kiermyer's present band founded in 2017 as a direct evolution of his music. He decided to give the band its own name to differentiate this new music. Pianist Davis Whitfield began working closely with Kiermyer in 2014, when he was 21 years old. He suggested the name should somehow refer to Franklin's spiritual practice. "The first thing that came to mind was a spontaneous song my teacher had sung to me many years before when he was instructing me to practice Chöd.” ''Kiermyer'' “Take this big corpse of the five skandhas and burn it in the realization of selflessness. Scatter the atoms that remain in the space of the Dharmadhatu and in the Dharmadhatu of no attachment ... Ah! Ah! Ha! Ha! Aaaah!” Khenchen Tsutrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Since its inception, Scatter The Atoms That Remain has featured outstanding musicians rounding out the lineup. Usually performing and/or recording as a quartet or quintet, the band has included at various times: saxophonists
Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz was first exposed to jazz as the son of the owners of a jazz nightclub in Baltimore. In 1958 he left Baltimore to study at the J ...
,
Billy Harper Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biography ''AllMusi ...
,
Isaiah Collier Isaiah Jaden Collier (born October 8, 2004) is an American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the USC Trojans. He was a consensus five-star recruit and o ...
, Jovan Alexandre, Ben Solomon,
George Garzone George Garzone (born September 23, 1950) is a saxophonist and jazz educator from Boston, Massachusetts. Biography Garzone is a member of the Fringe, a jazz trio founded in 1972 that includes bassist John Lockwood and drummer Francisco Mela, wh ...
, Lawrence Clark, Emilio Modeste, Linda Sikhakhane,
Abraham Burton Abraham Augustus Burton Jr. (born March 17, 1971) is an American saxophonist and bandleader. Biography Burton was born in New York City on March 17, 1971, and was raised in Greenwich Village. He studied at the Hartt School from 1989 to 1993, gra ...
, Boris Blanchet and Michael Troy - trumpeters
Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock music, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was ...
,
Keyon Harrold Keyon Karim Harrold (born November 18, 1980) is an American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, songwriter, and producer. Early life and family Keyon Harrold was born and raised in Ferguson, Missouri, United States, one of 16 children in a family of music ...
, Josh Evans, Giveton Gelin and a cameo by
Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved critical acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...
a few weeks before his untimely passing. - bassists
Gene Perla Gene Perla (born March 1, 1940) is an American jazz bassist. Career At the Berklee School of Music and the Boston Conservatory Perla concentrated on piano before moving to double bass. In 1969 he spent one year as a member of the Woody Herman Or ...
, Geraud Portal, Otto Gardner, Yasushi Nakamura, Evan Flory-barnes and Eric Wheeler. Pianist
Aaron Parks Aaron Parks (born October 7, 1983) is an American jazz pianist. Career A native of Seattle, Parks studied at the University of Washington at the age of 14 through the Transition School and Early Entrance Program as a double major in computer sci ...
, guitarist Eric Schenkman, vocalist and flautist Melanie Charles, producer/songwriter and singer
Jeff Bhasker Jeffrey Nath Bhasker (born March 4, 1974) is an American record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year in 2016 and was nominated for the award in 2013. Bhasker cam ...
and Bollywood singing star
Jasbir Jassi Jasbir Singh Bains (born 7 February 1970), better known by his stage name Jasbir Jassi, is an Indian singer, lyricist, performer and actor. he has released thirteen albums, his first pop album being ''Dil Le Gayee'', released in 1998 with Times ...
have all been guests on recordings with the band. Davis Whitfield left the band in early 2025 to focus on his new family. ''"Drummer Franklin Kiermyer offers a sense of shared catharsis through music that is at once majestic, ferocious, and relatable. When music writers are tasked with describing Kiermyer, the words “ecstasy” and “ecstatic” appear almost predictably, but sometimes a word is just right. Kiermyer’s “Scatter The Atoms That Remain” quartet channels the kind of beautiful, disciplined intensity exemplified by late John Coltrane."'' Jazz At Lincoln Center Scatter The Atoms' first release, Exultation, was co-produced by Kiermyer and legendary producer
Michael Cuscuna Michael Cuscuna (September 20, 1948 – April 20, 2024) was an American jazz record producer and writer. He was the co-founder of Mosaic Records and a discographer of Blue Note Records. Biography Career Cuscuna played drums, saxophone and flute ...
, as was Kiermyer's albums Closer to the Sun and Further. Cuscuna has gone on record praising Kiermyer's music: ''"It's the urgency you feel when you listen ... Franklin got beyond his influences and comes through with him as an original player — his feel, his rhythmic patterns ... He has his own way of playing the drums, his own way of organizing music, his own way of unfolding a performance."'' Emancipation Suite, released in 2022 only on limited edition LP, was chosen as one of
Down Beat Magazine ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...
's best albums of the year ''"Scatter the Atoms That Remain calls for universal freedoms such as it enacts."'' Howard Mandel Kiermyer is currently finishing a new album, Co-produced by him and Jason Olaine and slated for release in late 2025.


Discography

;As leader


References


External links


Franklin Kiermyer

Scatter The Atoms That Remain

Scatter The Atoms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiermyer, Franklin 1956 births Living people Musicians from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people Canadian jazz drummers Canadian male drummers Canadian male jazz musicians