Frank Rosaly

PHOTO: Niclas Weber

Frank Rosaly is a Puerto Rican drummer, composer and sound designer living in Amsterdam. His musical approach stems from an exhaustive study of Jazz, Classical percussion, Improvisation, as well as classical composition and post-classical techniques such as Musique concrète, graphic notation and chance operation. This information is filtered through the prism of the Unknown, Metaphysics, ancient history, rituals and folklore of Latin America and the Caribbean. His journey in sound is a study, his musical contributions are offerings.

He contributes much of his time beyond performing and composing to organizing musical events, while touring regularly internationally.

After 15 years of musical exploration and development with over 50 musical projects in Chicago from 2001-2016, Frank moved to Amsterdam to further develop his musical approach in a new environment including the worlds of intermediality, sound installation, electronic music synthesis and Dutch musiek theater.

Past performance collaborations include Fennesz, David Daniell, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, Bobby Bradford, Joan of Arc, Frode Gjerstad, Matana Roberts, Jeff Parker, Thurston Moore, Peter Brotzmann, Tony Malaby, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Coleman, Tony Conrad, Paul Flaherty, Marshall Allen, Louis Moholo, Nels Cline, Eric Boeren, Ken Vandermark, Michael Zerang, Walter Weirbos, White/Light, Doug McCombs, Michael Attias, Michael Moore and Dave Rempis among many others.

As an improviser, Frank is currently active in many projects from Chicago, New York and in Europe. Some groups (some older, some newer) include Silverbones, ¡Todos De Pie!, Ruidoscuro, The Young Mothers, Natural Information Society, Eric Boeren's All Ellington, Duo with Colin Stetson, Duo with Thurston Moore, Health&Beauty, Ryley Walker, OKAPI, Bobby Bradford/Frode Gjerstad Quartet, Rob Mazurek’s Mandarin Movie, The Rempis Percussion Quartet, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten Quintet, Scorch Trio/Quartet, Nicole Mitchell Ice Crystal Quartet, Jeff Parker/Nels Cline Quartet, Fred Lonberg-Holm’s Valentine Trio, The Jeb Bishop Trio, Jason Adasievicz’s Rolldown, Jorrit Dijkstra’s Flatlands Collective, Chicago Lucern Exchange, Anchor, Jaap Blonk's Retirement Overdue and others. Frank has been featured on over 150 recordings.

Other more current projects include work in music theater with OKAPI, Veenfabriek and Nicole Beutler Projects.

He is also involved in a solo project called Milkwork: a study in integration of electronically manipulated percussion instruments, improvising dense sound walls with controlled feedback, over-driven amplified drums. Frank blends soundscapes designed through analog electronic synthesis with extended techniques on unamplified drum set. Frank also studies cymbal hammering and instrument building, and utilizes these physical experiments within this project.

Frank earned a performance degree from Northern Arizona University. He has studied with Billy Higgins, Peter Donald, Bob Moses, Joel DiBartolo, Dom Moio, Steve Hemphill, Robert Schulz, Michael Vatcher and with the staff at the Jazz Record Mart.