Drums & Friends

John Wadham (Livia Records, 1978) Remastered and extra tracks.

There's a particular kind of chemistry that only shows up when musicians have logged real hours together on Dublin bandstands, and Drums and Friends captures exactly that. Drummer John Wadham — known to his peers simply as "The Wad" — steps out from behind the kit as leader on his only album as a bandleader, but it never feels like a drummer's vanity project. It's a genuine conversation among some of the best players Irish jazz had to offer.

The frontline is where the records' personality lives. Guitarist Louis Stewart, already one of Europe's most respected jazz voices by this point, brings his usual fluid, harmonically rich lines. Alongside him the flautist Brian Dunning adds a lighter, more lyrical texture that sets this session apart from a standard guitar-and-rhythm date ; his tone weaves through the arrangements rather than simply riding on top of them. Bassist Frank Hess anchors the bottom end with the kind of understated authority that lets Wadham's drumming breathe rather than compete for space.

Wadham's own playing is a study in taste over technique for its own sake — he colours and pushes rather than dominates, keeping the groups' time feel loose but never slack. Tracks like "Clarence's Place" show the interplay at its best: conversational, unhurried, full of small rhythmic surprises that reward close listening.

As part of the Livia Records catalogue — Ireland's first dedicated jazz label — Drums and Friends stands as a document of a specific and undersung scene: Dublin jazz musicians playing at a genuinely international level, largely outside the spotlight. It's also, sadly, one of the few studio documents of Wadham as a leader before his death — which makes Dunning's and Hess's contributions here feel less like session work and more like a tribute to a friend and bandleader whose recorded legacy never matched his reputation.

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John Wadham’s only album as leader, DRUMS and FRIENDS, featuring leading guitarist

Louis Stewart and flautist Brian Dunning, was recorded in 1978, as Livia’s second release.

Now remixed, remastered, and extended, with new photographs and sleeve notes, the album is again available, reflecting John’s importance in the Irish jazz scene.

John was the first-choice drummer of Irish jazz for decades. His excellent playing, clever wit, and warm personality made him a favourite of many visiting jazz musicians as well as local players, generations of Irish jazz fans, not to mention the hundreds of aspiring drummers whom he taught.

Features trios with Brian Dunning and bassist Frank Hess, and withLouis Stewart and bassist Martin Wals. DRUMS and FRIENDS, and duets with Louis. The tunes are mainly standards and contemporary compositions plus an exceptionally rare free improvisation with Louis. Mainly recorded in 1978 in Dublin’s Pat Hayes Studio, the album also includes two tracks rom Louis Stewart's Louis the First session recorded in Trend Studios in 1975..Drummer, jazz archivist, and former student of John, Conor Guilfoyle, wrote the sleeve notes

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