Having moved to NYC in 2017, drummer Lesley Mok has quickly consolidated their place on the adventurous jazz scene. The Bay Area native offers an intriguing blend of surging rhythm and textural savvy, which has made them an in-demand side person in such blue-chip ensembles led by pianist Myra Melford and saxophonist-flutist Anna Webber, as well as performances with bassist William Parker and vocalists Fay Victor and Jen Shyu. In addition, the drummer's The Living Collection was not only one of last year's best debut albums, but it also revealed Mok's burgeoning talent as a composer.
Having learned classical piano at an early age, it wasn't until they picked up drums as a teen that a rhythmic passion was fully ignited. Reflecting on a particular love for Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson, Mok recalls: "I wanted to be the kind of drummer that played mostly with singers." As a student at Berklee College of Music, inspiration was taken from many drummer sources, including Billy Hart, Francisco Mela, Bob Gullotti, Tom Rainey, Gerry Hemingway and Barry Altschul. But as Mok explains, a few names seem especially pertinent with regards to a personal approach to and development on the drum kit: "Jack DeJohnette is someone whose touch in particular I really resonated with. It felt so delicate but so clear as well, like raindrops on a leaf... The way Brian Blade interprets harmonic motion was astounding to me to hear him stretch the harmony with Danilo [Perez] and Wayne [Shorter] from the drum chair was exhilarating. He would extend certain phrases and resolve them at choice moments, pushing and pulling to create this incredible tension and release. I never got a chance to hear Paul Motian live but he's very influential in the directness and economy of his language. That's something that I try to do in my playing-say as much as I can with as little as possible."
Mok's own artistry has also become widely appreciated. Melford gives her perspective: "In the summer of 2022 I was looking for a drummer-percussionist for my quintet, Fire and Water, and was asking friends and colleagues for recommendations. Lesley Mok's name came up several times. When I contacted them, I was greeted by this warm, open, uplifting energy, which is the same energy I find in their music-both their playing as a percussionist and in their approach to improvising as well as composing. I was looking for someone who could both groove with a great sense of time and feel and play with the sound texture and noise in a much more abstract way. Lesley naturally does all of these things and fit right into the band from the first rehearsal...with a huge, beautiful and life-affirming gift to offer through their music and spirit. It's an honor to play with them and have them in my band." Webber, in whose Shimmer Wince band Mok also performs, is similarly effusive: "I'm a 'sound' person. I really get into people's sounds, and that is often what drives me to want to play with folks. By that I don't just mean timbre, though that's a part of it, I also mean overall sonic conception. When I first heard Lesley, I was struck by their use of space and the ways they created energy in a different way than many other drummers out there, as well as their clear dedication to finding the right sound/sonic space for every situation."
Mok's 'say more with less' credo also informs their writing for the ten-piece band on The Living Collection, which has a genre-blurring, but largely meditative chamber vibe. While it contains relatively few unison passages to signal charts, the abundance of loose counterpoint and drifting consonance hints at intent. The unmistakable trace of an organizing mind manifests through the ways in which elements and combinations materialize, recede, shimmer and alternate throughout. It's a conception which Mok has worked hard to achieve. "I didn't compose much in school, so for me The Living Collection was a chance to figure out my compositional voice. We had been playing for about three years before we recorded, and I would bring new music to every gig. It became this lab for me to learn about how I could write for these people who are such amazing improvisers. I didn't want to overwrite or limit them, but I wanted to find material that would allow us to harness our instincts and build upon different dynamics within the band."
Mok will be presenting some new music this month at Roulette. In this edition the line-up will comprise mainstays: David Leon and Yuma Uesaka (saxophones), Kalun Leung (trombone), Milena Casado (trumpet) and Elias Stemeseder (keyboards), with the addition of Ledah Finck (viola) and Lester St. Louis (cello). Will the album be a fair guide for somebody coming along as to what sort of music they might expect? Mok equivocates: "I'm not sure. It truly surprises me every time we play, and I like that part about it. So, there will be certain things that will happen, but a large part of it will still be up in the air. For me it's more...
