Acclaimed vibraphonist Drew Tucker has an international following, but it’s here that he’s especially beloved as a bandleader, educator and champion of ensemble music. From 2004-2018, Tucker was percussion director at Boca Raton High School. In 2017, he and Eric Rucker created MalletLab, a collective, intensive resource for mallet-instrument players worldwide. Since the retirement of Grammy winner Gary Burton, Tucker is the best-known vibes player coming out of South Florida.
So watching Tucker leave town to move to Atlanta won’t be painless, but he will ease the goodbye the best way possible — with music, giving concerts including MalletLab’s “The Vibe (*Literally),” a showcase with him and some of his favorite contemporaries. Headliner Stefon Harris “is one of the best vibraphone players in the world,” Tucker tells PureHoney. Co-headliner Nick Werth takes the instrument into the 21st century and beyond, utilizing distortion to alter its resonant, chiming sound.
MalletLab is just one way Tucker works to keep jazz and percussion alive and relevant for generations to come. Ever the teacher, he exudes a cool, approachable realness that makes him a natural for sparking interest in an instrument that can be daunting. One of his faculty photos shows him lounging with copies of two favorite LPs: J. Dilla’s “Donuts” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” The title of his web page, itsnotaxylophone.com, is cheerfully instructional.
Think of the vibraphone as the xylophone’s electric successor, a motor-powered platform of tuned metal bars with tremendous, bell-like sustain. Invented in the jazz era, it was the signature instrument of Lionel Hampton and has found its way on to records by the Beach Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Pink Floyd, Violent Femmes and Nas.
Tucker’s own musical tastes are of a piece. In concert, he’ll cover Prince or The Police. In conversation, he cites grunge, hip hop, and rock ’n roll as influences. “If I play music that means something to me, it will mean something to the audience,” he says. “You don’t go to a show to hear a great saxophonist play the saxophone; you go to a show because the artist bleeds for their instrument.”
MalletLab with Stefon Harris, Nick Werth, Drew Tucker and Nathan S is 8pm Thursday June 20 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach. itsnotaxylophone.com ~ Freddie Zandt
