“Any sound, repeated quickly, becomes a sustained tone. Any sound, slowed down, starts to beat. Music is the line between these two points, the wave that lives between the terminal ends of voice and drum. That’s where you’ll find Greg Fox. He moves through musical stages as both listener and player, a transformative rather than performative force. If you don’t know his work, start here: Fox is well-known in the lesser-known, a drummer with hundreds of credits on obscure records. His reputation is that of the elevated beast, that guy, the one who plays fast and loud and expresses himself at the extremes and in the extremes. That’s not wrong. Fox is also a slow theorist, a musician aware of those who came before him, and a teacher of drumming, with students all over the world.

He remains a student himself, open-minded, honest, and willing. He has worked with drummers like Thurman Barker (Mighty Joe Young, Marvin Gaye, Cecil Taylor), Guy Licata (Drummers Collective, Jojo Mayer, Jim Chapin), Marvin “Bugalu” Smith (James Brown, Sun Ra, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus) and Milford Graves (Milford Graves). Fox has a practice that goes beyond drumming—he is a certified professional coach who focuses on transformational life changes. He helps people find their rhythms, in behavior, mind, and spirit.

If you know his past, you’ll understand his present. Fox has played with Liturgy, Zs, Ex Eye, Guardian Alien, Ben Frost, Colin Stetson, and dozens of other people.”

-Sasha Frere-Jones, 2020