Jonathan Scales Fourchestra feat. Robert Sput Searight, Weedie Braimah, & MonoNeon

Jonathan Scales

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Jonathan Scales is likely the most innovative steel drummer on the planet. His stunning, virtuosic technique is obvious and apparent to any who have seen him perform, but it is his mesmerizing compositions and tasteful, avant-garde improvisation that set him apart from the pack. Scales’ unmistakably unique approach to an instrument often associated with cruise ships and tropicalia establishes him as something of an outlier. Whereas his talent and creativity could have been focused on other instruments he plays, such as saxophone, he fell in love with the sound of the steel pans. He may also have unconsciously seen it as a challenge… to transform the instrument in much the same way that his musical inspiration Bela Fleck did with the banjo. In fact, Driftwood Magazine made a similar observation, when it wrote that “Scales is to steel pans what Béla Fleck is to the banjo—an über innovator.”