Drummer-Composer Vinnie Sperrazza Presents Apocryphal – an Art-House Jazz Masterpiece That Blends Atmosphere and Edge – on Sept. 9 via Loyal Label Sperrazza’s kindred-spirit New York quartet on Apocryphal features Loren Stillman (alto saxophone), Brandon Seabrook (electric guitar) and Eivind Opsvik (double-bass) Vinnie Sperrazza – a drummer of both swing and color, one whose “tones travel on and on,” according to The New York Times – releases Apocryphal, his fourth album as a leader or co-leader, on Sept. 9, 2014, via Loyal Label. Apocryphal, a masterpiece of art-house jazz that blends cinematic atmosphere and rock edge, features a kindred-spirit quartet of Brooklyn-based musicians, with the drummer-composer joined by tartly lyrical alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, very electric guitarist Brandon Seabrook and deeply musical double-bassist Eivind Opsvik, all notable figures on the 21st-century New York creative music scene. The Brooklyn studio sessions were recorded by top indie-rock engineer Bryce Goggin (who has been behind the board for artists from Pavement to Antony & the Johnsons) and produced by Geoff Kraly, a member of rock duo Paris Monster as well as a longtime friend and musical collaborator of Sperrazza. Opsvik, who runs the Loyal Label, mixed the album. The music of Apocryphal has such far-flung touchstones as Tony Williams and Paul Motian, Frank Zappa and Spalding Gray, not to mention plainchant and post-rock, jazz chops and studio manipulation, buried secrets and revealed truth. The word “apocryphal” hints at a sense of mystery, given the term’s popular derivation from the Apocrypha, non-canonical books of the Bible considered possibly “untrue.” Sperrazza was drawn to the concept as a metaphor for the hidden web of allusions behind an album of pure, abstract music. About the title, Sperrazza says: “That word has a nexus of meanings regarding secrets hidden away. The story of those books of the Bible fascinated me, even though my Catholicism is strictly of the lapsed, ironic variety. There are elements of this record that are unstated or secret in a sense, with a couple of songs subject to studio art. In the title track, for instance, a drum performance from one take was inserted into the band performance of another take. This album pushes against my default classic jazz aesthetic of going for one great take and that being the track. Then there’s Brandon Seabrook’s atmospheric guitar playing, which is very non-jazz and takes the music to a weirder, more amorphous place where you don’t know quite where you are – and that’s very exciting to me.” Another story that captured Sperrazza’s imagination was the tragic one of a renowned monologist-actor who leapt secretly to his death off the Staten Island Ferry in 2004. The drummer named “Spalding Gray” after him. “I couldn’t get that story out of my mind,” he says. “How could he jump like that, leaving behind his wife and kids without so much as a note? How could his depression be so deep that suicide was the only answer to the pain? It’s just one of those unknowable things, and it haunted me. And, weirdly, the sad, searching feel of the music I wrote thinking about it actually ended up being hidden – as we experimented with a much faster tempo for the music and that was the take we ended up using for the record.” The piece “Plainchant” – which DownBeat already described as “a standout” composition – has another layered story behind it. “It started out coming from Zappa and that stately thing he did musically, like plainchant,” Sperrazza says. “And plainchant is its own secret in a way. The way it was written down is square, but the sound of it realized is passionate. When I first listened to medieval and Renaissance music, I couldn’t believe those composers did things that I had thought were conceived in the 1960s.” The title of “Mendicant” features a hidden play on words, as Sperrazza explains: “A mendicant is a monk, someone who needs to be sacred because the rest of the world is profane. And as so often with Thelonious Monk, the piece has a similar dichotomy going on with major and minor.” As for “Floor Phase,” that tune “was actually going to be called ‘Hesychasm,’ which is this mystical Greek Orthodox chant,” Sperrazza says. “But that seemed to overload the religious references, so I ended up using ‘Floor Phase’ after something I once heard a dancer say. I don’t know exactly what it means, but it has a ring to it. And she was cute.” The title of “Thanksalot” refers to a characteristic stage signoff by the late, great drummer-composer Paul Motian. His album Tribute was a key influence on Sperrazza during the run up to Apocryphal; that 1974 LP included the unusual feature of two guitars, and “the feel of it has a lot in common with the indie-jazz of today,” Sperrazza points out. Another drummer-composer album in Sperrazza’s mind when he was conceptualizing Apocryphal was Tony Williams’ Ego. “That LP is so personal that it’s like private music – it represents pure individuality and creativity to me. More than virtuosity, more than innovativeness – it’s individuality in art that is the thing to shoot for in my mind.” About the one-of-a-kind band Sperrazza assembled for Apocryphal, he says: “It’s a motley mix the four of us. I mean, Loren and Brandon have virtually nothing in common as far as their musical backgrounds – this classic jazz soloist on sax next to an art-metal guitarist. But they sound great together, and I can swing with Loren and rock with Brandon – do all the **** I like to do in one band. Then there’s Eivind, who is just one of the coolest and most creative bass players and composers and all-around musicians I know. I can’t stress enough how beautiful this band made the music sound. This album is super-personal for me. But all the allusions and hidden stories in the music don’t ultimately matter for the listener – the most important thing is always that music is a springboard for a listener’s own feelings. And I can’t wait to see what this album does for people.” Vinnie Sperrazza Describing Sperrazza’s compositionally minded approach to drumming, the New York City Jazz Record said: “Sperrazza’s orchestration of rhythmic and melodic concepts across the drum kit proudly bears the mark of a master who has at his grasp the most nuanced inflections of color and touch on both cymbal and skins.” Born in 1979 and raised near Utica, N.Y., Sperrazza grew up the son of a father who was a drummer and his first teacher. Sperrazza went on to earn a degree in Jazz Studies from William Paterson University in New Jersey. While at WPU, he began a formative relationship as a protégé of pianist James Williams. Sperrazza has dedicated Apocryphal to his late, great teacher. Through Williams, the young drummer performed and recorded with such elders as Clark Terry, Steve Wilson, Javon Jackson, Richard Davis and Mulgrew Miller.

Since moving to New York City in 2002, Sperrazza has been an in-demand sideman, along with making a name for himself as a leader. The Matt Blostein/Vinnie Sperrazza Band performed extensively in New York and across the U.S. in support of its albums Ursa Minor (Envoi, 2008) and Paraphrase (Yeah Yeah Records, 2011). Sperrazza has released two trio albums with pianist Jacob Sacks: Peak Inn (Fresh Sound, 2009) saw them in league with bassist Dave Ambrosio, focusing on improvisation; Barcelona Holiday (Fresh Sound, 2011) teamed them with bassist Masa Kamaguchi in a set of standards and jazz classics that was ranked on the New York City Jazz Record Best of 2011 list. Sperrazza is also a member of the collective 40twenty with Sacks, Ambrosio and trombonist Jacob Garchik, with the group releasing its eponymous album via Yeah Yeah Records in 2012. As a sideman, Sperrazza has recently recorded on albums led by trumpeter Ben Holmes (Anvil of the Lord, Skirl, 2012), bassist Peter Brendler (Outside the Lines, Positone, 2014) and guitarist David Ullmann (Falling, Wet Cash, 2012; and Corduroy, Little Sky, 2014), among others. 
Sperrazza has performed at some of the most prestigious clubs, concert halls and jazz festivals across North America, Europe and Japan. He is currently (August 2014) performing as an actor-musician at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the musical Family Album by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, creators of the Broadway hit Passing Strange.