Bruce Ditmas

Bruce Ditmas (born December 12, 1946) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.

Ditmas was born in Atlantic City but grew up in Miami; his father was a trumpeter in Miami big bands. He studied with Tony Crisetello and then with Stan Kenton at Indiana University and Michigan State University in the early 1960s. After a stint with Ira Sullivan (1962–64), he accompanied singers including Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Della Reese, Leslie Uggams, and Sheila Jordan between 1964 and 1970. He moved to New York City in 1966.

In the 1970s Ditmas played on Broadway Promises..Promises...then with Joe Newman (1971), Jazz Interactions Orchestra (1971), Gil Evans (1971–77), Enrico Rava (from 1971), Stardrive, Atmospheres, Future Shock (1972), New Wilderness Preservation Band (1972–73), Paul Bley, Lee Konitz, Jaco Pastorius Pat Metheny, Chet Baker (1974–75), and Stan Getz (1975). Later in the 1970s he concentrated on solo performance, including experiments with drum machines. He returned to work with the Evans Orchestra from 1979 to 1985, and lived in Italy in 1986-87, where he played with Dino Saluzzi, Rava, Rita Marcotulli, and Pietro Tonolo. He played with his own trio D3 with Jack DeSalvo and Tony DeCicco from 1988. D3 released Spontaneous Combustion on the Tutu label. In the 1990s he played with Pat Hall and Karl Berger among others. D3 reformed in 2008 and is currently performing as the D3 Standards Trio.

In 1990, Ditmas orchestrated the music to an opera by Patricia Burgess, The Dream of Four Directions. He also composed prolifically for film and television; among his credits is the film Deathscape.

Discography

As leader

• What If (Posctards, 1995)
• Synergy (In+Out, 1996)
• Out and Out Jazz (2001)
• Yellow Dust (2015)

As sideman

With Jaco Pastorius

• Jaco (Improvising Artists, 1974)
• Jaco Pastorius (1976)

With Paul Bley

• Pastorius/Metheny/Ditmas/Bley (Improvising Artists, 1974)
• Modern Chant (Venus, 1994)
• Emerald Blue (1994)

With Gil Evans

• Where Flamingos Fly (Artists House, 1971)
• Svengali (1973)
• The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (RCA, 1974)
• There Comes a Time (RCA, 1975)

With Enrico Rava

• Andanada (1983)
• Secrets (1986)
• Volver (ECM, 1986)

With others

• 1971 Katumbo (Dance), Johnny Coles (Mainstream)
• 1972 Steve Kuhn Live in New York, Steve Kuhn (Cobblestone)
• 1978 Futures Passed, David Friedman
• 1996 Live at Chene Park, Jean-Luc Ponty
• 1996 Music for the Millennium, Ralph Simon
• 1996 Songs from the Musical "Poker", Frank Lacy
• 1997 I Will, John Clark
• 2015 Homage to Paul Bley, Arrigo Cappelletti/Furio Di Castri^[1]

References

• Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira, eds. (18 November 1999). "Ditmas, Bruce". The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-19-972907-4.