Home » Jazz Musicians » Donald Edwards

Donald Edwards

Donald Edwards has played across the globe with some of the finest musicians in jazz and other genres. He has now built a reputation all his own. Donald Edwards has performed with jazz greats such as Freddie Hubbard, Joey Calderazzo, The Mingus Big Band, Dynasty & Orchestra, Mark Whitfield, Gregoire Marit, Tom Harrell, Donald Harrison, Jesse Davis, Kurt Elling, Ralph Bowen, Branford Marsalis, Henry Butler, Orrin Evans, Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Hunter, Russell Malone, Dave Holland, Conrad Herwig, Alvin Batiste, Alex Sipiagin, Seamus Blake, Joe Locke, Dave Holland, George Colligan, Joe Locke, Diane Schuur and the Harry Connick Show.

Donald Edward's is a 2018 recipient of the Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works Grant, A Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Jazz Project.

After winning the Louisiana Arts Ambassador’s Award in 1994 for Music Composition, Donald Edwards became one of the most sought after drummers on the Baton Rouge/New Orleans music scene. He grew up playing different kinds of music ranging from marching band, hip-hop and pop to r&b, jazz, funk and gospel music. As a result, Edwards is now called on to play many different genres of music and meets them with creative interpretation and virtuosity. Donald Edwards is among the vanguard of players on the New York scene today.

As part of a production team conceived in 2005, with a full-service recording and music production studio, Dirty Soap Ent. LLC (Donald Edwards w/ Antonio Dyre) has work with top artist in the jazz field and beyond. 2013 saw them relocate to The Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in Astoria to team up with master engineer Dave Stoller.

Edwards has 4 recordings as a leader -“In The Vernacular” (Leaning House Label), “Ducktones” (Zoot - T Label), “Evolution Of An Influenced Mind”- (Criss Cross Label) and “Prelude To Real Life”- (Criss Cross) and is also involved in the production of numerous recording projects.

With skills steeped in and out of the rich and varied traditions of Louisiana, drummer and composer Donald Edwards is dedicated in his pursuit of creative improvisation, compositional development, and experimentation with rhythms through conversing in dialects of a universal language we call music.

Edwards also endorses Ludwig Drums and Sabian Cymbals. You can also check out his artist profile on each of these websites here Ludwig artist profile & Sabian artist profile.

Tags

1
Album Review

Anthony Branker & Imagine: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements

Read "What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


L'avventuroso post-bop del compositore Anthony Branker, ben espresso dall'album Beauty Within del quintetto Imagine, trova nuovi e più articolati sviluppi in questo What Place Can Be for Us?. Il gruppo conferma il chitarrista Pete McCann e la coppia Fabian Almazan e Linda May Han Oh ampliandosi fino a un medio organico con alcuni dei massimi giovani strumentisti di New York: il trombettista Philip Dizack, i sassofonisti Walter Smith III e Remy Le Boeuf, il batterista Donald Edwards e la vocalist ...

4
Liner Notes

Conrad Herwig: A Voice Through the Door

Read "Conrad Herwig: A Voice Through the Door" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


In the challenging economic and political climate of present day, it seems that much time is spent on matters of only fleeting importance. Furthermore, it seems that our culture has experienced a paradigm shift that places more emphasis on immediacy and instant fulfillment and less on rumination and appreciation of more profound matters. On the one hand come the duties and obligations that embody day to day survival, but there is also a need for balance. It is this current ...

2
Album Review

Something Blue: Personal Preference

Read "Personal Preference" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


Marc Free produced the second edition of Something Blue to encourage “a wider audience of new listeners" to jazz by presenting “a focused program of concise performances to provide maximum enjoyment." These goals are congruent with Free's trust in his artists. The eleven tracks of Personal Preference do not smack of compromise or a nebulous artistic focus. Free has assembled a band of players with ties to the label who boldly stride through the bop/hard bop/post-bop continuum, utilizing elements from ...

5
Liner Notes

Anthony Branker: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements

Read "Anthony Branker: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements" reviewed by Michael Ambrosino


Ma Rainey channeled music as her ritual of “singing to understand life." Congressman John Lewis leveraged music towards the “good trouble" he created fighting for civil rights in an uncivil land. Anthony Branker understands music as the calculus of his life's work—the art of weaving words and sound into transcendent tapestries that explore the rich, complex, and nuanced aspects of intolerance, beauty, prejudice, spirituality, gender, equality and social justice. The composite of this artistry exists within the remarkable ...

7
Liner Notes

Opus 5: Introducing Opus 5

Read "Opus 5: Introducing Opus 5" reviewed by Josef Woodard


The Evident Charms and Secret Powers of Five For all the myriad varieties and contextual possibilities under the rubric of what makes for a valid jazz group, there is something distinctively powerful and tradition-enriched about the number five. Smaller groups tighten up the focus on individual voices involved, and often frame a specified protagonist leader, while larger groupings accentuate the greater good of the team. By contrast, the quintet format, especially in the conventional format of trumpet and tenor sax ...

8
Album Review

Opus 5: Swing On This

Read "Swing On This" reviewed by Paul Beard


Recorded in September 2021, at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio under the direction of Mike Marciano, this is the fifth album from contemporary jazz group, Opus 5. Entitled Swing On This, it comprises eight tracks that average around seven minutes each. Hailing from the Netherlands, Opus 5 is a stylish quintet made up of Seamus Blake on tenor saxophone and Alex Sipiagin on trumpet, with drums by Donald Edwards, bass in the hands of Boris Kozlov and last ...

12
Album Review

Misha Tsiganov: Misha's Wishes

Read "Misha's Wishes" reviewed by Edward Blanco


New York-based pianist and composer Misha Tsiganov, a well-established jazz veteran having appeared on countless albums throughout his career, presents his seventh recording as leader with Misha's Wishes, conceived and birthed during the COVID pandemic, when his time at home offered the perfect opportunity to develop this project. The long-time isolation during 2020 allowed the pianist to write, as he states, “some nice music that people will enjoy," which he certainly accomplishes here, providing seven originals in addition to reimagined ...

Read more articles
3

Event

Ximo Tebar Band "The New Son Mediterraneo" Jazz With Sea Flavor At Smalls Jazz Club New York on May 24th With Jim Ridl, John Benitez & Donald Edwards

Ximo Tebar Band "The New Son Mediterraneo" Jazz With Sea Flavor At Smalls Jazz Club New York on May 24th With Jim Ridl, John Benitez & Donald Edwards

Source: Jazz Friends News

Virtuoso and innovative spanish jazz guitarist Ximo Téba will perform on May 24th at smalls jazz club accompanied by Donald Edwards, Jim Ridl and John Benítez. Creator of “Son Mediterráneo" style, Ximo Tebar is one of the most international Spanish musicians, with an impressive career, numerous awards, excellent recordings and performances in the most prestigious festivals around the world. Son Mediterráneo is the hallmark of the innovative Valencian guitarist Ximo Tebar since the early '90s, a mix of jazz jazz ...

1

Performance / Tour

Vocalist Dara Tucker Debuts "The Sun Season" At Smoke Jazz & Supper Club On August 20th Featuring Peter Bernstein, Helen Sung And Donald Edwards

Vocalist Dara Tucker Debuts "The Sun Season" At  Smoke Jazz & Supper Club On August 20th Featuring Peter Bernstein, Helen Sung And Donald Edwards

Source: Greg Bryant

Jazz vocalist and songwriter Dara Tucker will celebrate the release of her new CD, The Sun Season, at New York's Smoke Jazz Club (2751 Broadway) on Wednesday, August 20th. The sets will feature pianist Helen Sung, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Donald Edwards, who also appear on the CD. The third of Dara’s studio releases, The Sun Season is a celebration of life, energy and the human experience though the eyes of a unique singer and composer. The performances will ...

Photos

Concerts

Apr 3 Wed
Apr 8 Mon
Apr 17 Wed
Apr 22 Mon
May 1 Wed
May 15 Wed

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

What Place Can Be for...

Origin Records
2023

buy

Personal Preference

Posi-Tone Records
2023

buy

Misha's Wishes

Criss Cross
2022

buy

Swing On This

Criss Cross
2022

buy

Live in Portugal -...

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

Indigenous

Posi-Tone Records
2021

buy

The Door of No Return

From: What Place Can Be for Us? - A...
By Donald Edwards

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.