We develop a detailed regularity theory of $-Δ+b\cdot\nabla$ in $L^p(\mathbb R^d)$, for a wide class of vector fields. The $L^p$-theory allows us to construct associated strong Feller process in $C_\infty(\mathbb R^d)$. Our starting object is an operator-valued function, which, we prove, coincides with the resolvent of an operator realization of $-Δ+ b\cdot \nabla$, the generator of a holomorphic $C_0$-semigroup on $L^p(\mathbb R^d)$. Then the very form of the operator-valued function yields crucial information about smoothness of the domain of the generator.