MOLK FOLK Frank Rosaly
Frank Rosaly is a drummer, composer and sound designer living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His musical approach stems from an exhaustive study of jazz, classical, improvisation, ritual and record collecting. For the last 20 years, these studies have been filtered through the prism of ritual and folklore of Latin America and the Caribbean, as he navigates his Puerto Rican roots. He considers his journey in sound as a student, his musical contributions as offerings.
Frank earned his music performance degree from Northern Arizona University in 1997. He has studied with Billy Higgins, Peter Donald, Bob Moses, Joel DiBartolo, Dom Moio, Robert Schulz, Michael Vatcher and the staff of the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago.
In 2001, Frank moved to from Arizona to Chicago after being urged by guitarist Jeff Parker at a shared bill with Isotope 217 in 2000. He quickly became an important part of the developing movement of the jazz and experimental communities. He gained invaluable experience and perspective about performing, working and touring with some of the best musicians and artists in the Chicago and New York City. ‘Unlearning’ became his ethos, gaining freedom and incorporating error, looseness and fervency into his playing, eventually finding a unique voice on the drums. He was named “Best jazz drummer” by The Reader in 2013. He lead several of his own ensembles as well, and delved deeply into electro-acoustic solo drumming, called Milkwork, one of the earliest practitioners of the form (before it was cool.)
In 2016, after 15 years of musical exploration with over 50 musical projects in Chicago, Frank moved to Amsterdam to further develop his musical approach in a new environment. He was quickly adopted into the worlds of musiektheater, sound installation, electronic music synthesis and scoring for film. Frank has since won several awards for his contributions to the theater and music sectors.
Beyond performing and composing, he contributes much of his time to organizing musical events at the Dokzaal as co-founder of Molk Factory, and with the presenting collective, Lokaal, while touring regularly internationally.
Past improvised performance collaborations include working with Fennesz, David Daniell, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, Bobby Bradford, Joan of Arc, Andy Moor, Nate Wooley, Frode Gjerstad, Matana Roberts, Jeff Parker, Thurston Moore, Peter Brotzmann, Tony Malaby, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Coleman, Paul Flaherty, Marshall Allen, Louis Moholo, Nels Cline, Eric Boeren, Michael Zerang, Walter Weirbos, Doug McCombs, Michael Attias, Michael Moore, Ben LaMar Gay, Zoh Amba, Health&Beauty and Dave Rempis among many others.
Some of the many projects from Chicago and Europe he has played with include MESTIZX with Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Ruidoscuro, The Young Mothers, Natural Information Society, Eric Boeren's All Ellington, Duo with Colin Stetson, Duo with Thurston Moore, Health&Beauty, Ryley Walker, 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, Josh Berman Trio, Jorrit Dijkstra’s Flatlands Collective, Chicago Lucern Exchange, Anchor and more. Frank has been featured on over 150 recordings.
Recent theater projects include Wunderbaum, OKAPI, Veenfabriek, Nicole Beutler Projects, Davy Pieters, Ulrike Quade, Nineties Productions, Sweigmann&, and others.