Franklin Kiermyer
Franklin Kiermyer is a jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader.
Biography
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Kiermyer first gained attention in 1994 with his album Solomon's Daughter, featuring tenor saxophonist and former John Coltrane bandmate Pharoah Sanders. Known mostly for his particularly expansive style of drumming and the passionate spiritual focus of his music.Mostly self-taught, Kiermyer cites the early influence of drummers Baby Dodds, Sid Catlett, Minor Hall, and Gene Krupa. "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 Fats Waller, Kid Ory, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, 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. 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. A cooleague 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 Tsultrim 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, Billy Harper, George Garzone, Isaiah Collier, Jovan Alexandre, Ben Solomon, Lawrence Clark, Emilio Modeste, Linda Sikhakhane, Abraham Burton, Boris Blanchet and Michael Troy - trumpeters Randy Brecker, Keyon Harrold, Josh Evans, Giveton Gelin and a cameo by Roy Hargrove a few weeks before his untimely passing. - Pianists Davis Whitfield, Aaron Parks, Leo Genovese - bassists Gene Perla, Géraud Portal, Otto Gardner, Nat Reeves, Yasushi Nakamura, Evan Flory-barnes and Eric Wheeler. Pianist Aaron Parks, guitarist Eric Schenkman, vocalist and flautist Melanie Charles, producer/songwriter and singer Jeff Bhasker and Bollywood singing star Jasbir Jassi have all either performed or have been guests on recordings with the band.
Kiermyer has also performed and recorded with many other notable musicians including Umdze Lodro Samphel, Dewey Redman, Don Alias, Reggie Workman, John Abercrombie, Bobo Stenson, Tisziji Muñoz, Azar Lawrence, Joe Lovano, Chris Gekker, John Esposito, Dave Douglas, Juini Booth, Benito Gonzalez, Vernon Reid, Drew Gress, Fima Ephron, Dave Fiuzcynski, Famoro Dioubate, Umdze Lodro Samphel, Eric Person, Anthony Cox, Benny Barbara, Bob Mover, Michael Stuart, Hassan Hakmoun, John Stubblefield, John Rojak, Hill Greene, Dom Richards, Ivan Symonds, T.V. Gopalakrishnan, Debashish Battacharya, and Jatheeya Billy Robinson.
"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, 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's best albums of the year "Scatter the Atoms That Remain calls for universal freedoms such as it enacts." Howard Mandel
Kiermyer's new album, entitled "SCATTER THE ATOMS THAT REMAIN" is co-produced by him and Jason Olaine and slated for release in the Spring of 2026.
Discography
;As leader| Year recorded | Title | Label | # | Info/Personnel |
| 2020 | Emancipation Suite | Mobility Music | MM 211015 | Scatter The Atoms That Remain Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Emilio Modeste – tenor saxophone, Davis Whitfield – piano, Otto Gardner – bass, produced by: Franklin Kiermyer... released 02/15/2022 |
| 2019 | Exultation | Dot Time | DT 9085 | Scatter The Atoms That Remain Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Jovan Alexandre – tenor saxophone, Davis Whitfield – piano, Otto Gardner – bass, produced by: Franklin Kiermyer & Michael Cuscuna |
| 2019* | Solomon’s Daughter | Dot Time | DT 7103 | re-issue of 1994 release with 3 previously unreleased songs Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone, John Esposito – piano, Drew Gress – bass |
| 2016 | Closer to the Sun | Mobility Music | MM 11016 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Lawrence Clark – tenor saxophone Davis Whitfield – piano Otto Gardner – bass produced by Franklin Kiermyer & Michael Cuscuna |
| 2014 | Further | Mobility Music | MM 020131 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Azar Lawrence – tenor saxophone Benito Gonzalez – piano Juini Booth – bass produced by Franklin Kiermyer & Michael Cuscuna |
| 2000 | Great Drum of the Secret Mirror | SunShip | SSR 099003 | The verses pertaining to the example of the Drum from the chapter called "The Seventh Vajra Point: Activity" of the Ratnagotravibhanga or Mahayanottaratantra-sastra ~ The Greater Vehicle Treatise on the Highest Continuum ~ One of the "Five Dharmas of Maitreya" given by Arya Maitreya to Arya Asanga rediscovered by the great Indian master Maitripa Following the instructions of the Tibetan yogi and scholar, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, set to music by Kiermyer and sung in Tibetan and English by many different singers. |
| 2000 | Sanctification | SunShip | SSR 099002 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Michael Stuart – tenor saxophone John Esposito – piano Fima Ephron – bass |
| 1999 | Auspicious Blazing Sun | SunShip | SSR 099001 | Chant + ritual instruments: Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Umdze Lodro Samphel. Dhondup Namgyal Khorko, Karma Dhodul, Chimey Dorje, Sherab Sangpo, Chojor Radha, Tom Schmidt |
| 1996 | Kairos | Evidence Music | ECD 22144-2 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Michael Stuart – tenor saxophone, Sam Rivers – soprano saxophone, Eric Person – alto saxophone, John Esposito – piano, Dom Richards – bass, Drew Gress – bass |
| 1994 | Solomon’s Daughter | Evidence Music | ECD 22083-2 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone, John Esposito – piano, Drew Gress – bass produced by: Franklin Kiermyer & engineered by Roy Cicala |
| 1993 | In the House of My Fathers | Konnex Records | KCD 5052 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Dave Douglas – trumpet, John Stubblefield – saxophone, John Esposito – piano, Anthony Cox – bass, Drew Gress – bass, Tom Chess – guitar, Eric St. Laurent – guitar, Chris Gekker – trumpet, Daniel Grabois – horn, John Rojak – bass trombone, David Braynard – tuba |
| 1992 | Break down the Walls | Konnex Records | KCD 5044 | Franklin Kiermyer – Drums, Composer, Band Leader, Peter Madsen - piano, Tony Scherr - bass, Chris Gekker - trumpet, Russ Rizner - horn, John Rojak - trombone, Dave Braynard - tuba |