Drummer Dave Colella Propels Hard-Driving ‘Revelation’ Album

Bernardsville drummer Dave Colella provides the stirring beat behind the self-released Revelation by Piper & The Hard Times, a bluesy, ball-buster of an album fronted by the soulful bluster of Piper. When Piper sings, you can hear his phlegm wiggle. He’s an old-fashioned blues shouter and it works well atop this studio octet.

But it’s the Jersey Boy on the drum set that makes it move. Colella also is an arranger and his work here is gritty and organic. He’s learned from the best. Joe Morello [1928-2011], from Irvington, provided those complex cross-rhythms for The Dave Brubeck Quartet from ’57 to ’72. Colella, who started drumming at age seven, studied under Morello, who taught him “how” to play, as opposed to “what” to play, according to the drummer. The dude’s immersed in the blues. He knows when to lay back. And he swings ferociously. When he rocks, it’s that barrelhouse Chicago jump-blues fused with a rock’n’roll mentality.

Blues fans in Las Vegas will get to thrill to their obviously blistering live set September 5 to 8 at “Big Blues Bender.” Then it’s on to the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival in Colorado September 13-15 and the “Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise” in January.

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