SÖHNE MANNHEIMS / XAVIER NAIDOO / BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST
RALF GUSTKE
MUSIC STYLE: Pop, Rock
INSTRUMENT: REMO Drumheads / LP percussion
WEBPAGE: www.ralfgustke.eu/biography

RALF GUSTKE

Ralf Gustke is one of the style-defining and most stylistically versatile drummers in Germany. He understands very different grooves like no other; although extremely complex and virtuosic, he is always discreet and interprets tastefully - technical skill is only a menas to an end for Gustke. Behind his work on the instrument, one discovers further qualities to Gustke, with which he impressively refutes the age-old "access only for musicians and drummers": a passionate feeling for the music as a whole, as well as the ability to listen and, not only providing rhythm from the drums but actually making music.

The list of acts that Gustke has played for as a sideman, live and in the studio, reads like a wish list for pop, R n B and Soul: He worked with Chaka Khan, Wolf Maahn, Edo Zanki, Gianna Nannini, Georg Danzer, Nena, Schiller, Daniel Wirtz, Sons of Mannheim and Xavier Naidoo (for whom he also worked as Musical Director), just to name a few.

Over the years, the native of Heidelberg has always made a detour to other styles and, for example, through his collaboration with Electric Outlet, De Phazz, Max Mutzke, Michael Schlierf, Kosho or Adam Holzman, he has demonstrated that he is an exceptional musician as well as a jazz and fusion drummer.

With his own album FLYING DAYS, Gustke lays down the sound that has shaped him, his playing and his musicality for more than 30 years: groovy songs à la Steely Dan, jazzy fusion in the footsteps of Billy Cobham's "Spectrum" or funky tracks with beats reminiscent of Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters" and John Scofield.