... don't have a complete understanding of what it is you're saying, but I'll try to makes sense of what you're saying...
I believe that you're speaking to the "new sound" that drummers are coming up with in the gospel world. To understand a cat like Chris Dave, you must first know where he is drawing his influences from. Chris Dave is HEAVILY rooted in the bebop culture. His influences that he credits are Tony Williams and Elvin Jones. He even stated in the Roy Haynes issue of Modern Drummer a couple years back that he got off on playin Elvin licks in funk/r&b settings. Chris also has a strong tie to the electronic and drum&bass stlyes of music. That music is about manipulating a simple beat and turning it into something else. With those influences in place, he naturally draws from the funk/r&b/hip hop becase thats what the music of his era is (so to speak) as well as strong ties to raggae music.
In a nutshell, Chris has a ginormous tie to the history of the music and can draw from any of these at a moments notice. He can do this because he has put in the time in the shed. Period.
As far as Spank is concerned, I personally hear a lot of Chris's influence on his playing. Since the first time I heard him on a Tye Tribbett bootleg from 2004-2005. Weather or not he is/was heavily marked by him, his thinking is truly outside the box. I honestly know very little about his major influences outside of Brizz, Gerald, and Lil John. I believe that i read that he played jazz in high school in his article in MD this year (not 100% sure because I can't dig thru my back issues right now), but it wouldn't surprise me. I say that because of the way he plays. Also, Tye's band has a strong tie to the fusion bands of the 70's. I hear it in his arrangements and their jams. One must be a true musician to play with Tye. Its no joke the stuff he does. No smoke and mirrors with him.... Just straight music.
Hope this isn't too far off of your original point.
