Peter Erskine

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Erskine with Weather Report (1981)
Erskine with Weather Report (1981)

Peter Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer and composer.

He was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S.. He began playing the drums at the age of four. He graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then studied percussion at Indiana University. His professional career started in 1972 when he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra. After three years with Kenton he joined Maynard Ferguson for two years. In 1978 he joined Weather Report, joining the legendary Jaco Pastorius to form a formidable rhythm section. After four years and five albums with Weather Report he joined Steps Ahead. His big band recordings with the Bob Mintzer Big Band are excellent modern big band jazz/funk studied by many students of drums and drumming.

His music-style spanning talent also features on Kate Bush's 2005 album Aerial, where Erskine teams with bass player Eberhard Weber. Diana Krall, Eliane Elias, Queen Latifah and Linda Ronstadt among many more still choose Peter for his multifaceted musicality. Even Scottish and Finnish Classical Orchestras have had him as a featured musician. He is currently on the music faculty at the University of Southern California.

Contents

[edit] Everything is Timekeeping

Erskine has enjoyed a long and successful career as a session drummer, recording and touring with many top jazz and rock artists, including Steely Dan. He also releases very influential teaching, both in his excellent books as in videos and DVDs, even online.

His playing style is characterized by a thorough dedication on time-keeping and swing, a great dynamic spectrum and an ability to play several styles of music very sensitively. These qualities may be the reason for his very wide use as a session drummer in musical settings of great variety. Hence he could also be labeled as an "all-around drummer", in terms of musical styles he is capable of playing with skill.

As a jazz-drummer, his dedication to timekeeping makes his jazz playing sound quite modern, as he does not tend to play "flexible" timekeeping as most of traditionalist jazz drummers. It remains a matter of personal opinions to be discussed whether he has thus brought jazz into the modern era of perfect timekeeping (a reference here is made to drum machines and electronic music with flawless metronomical timekeeping of today), or whether he diverges from traditional jazz drumming.

[edit] Trivia

Erskine is good friends with Vinnie Colaiuta, another versatile drummer held in extremely high regard.

[edit] Books

  • Time Awareness
  • The Erskine Method for Drumset
  • My Book
  • The Drum Perspective
  • Drum Concepts and Techniques

[edit] DVD

The Erskine Method for Drumset (Alfred Publishing Company)

[edit] Discography (as a leader)

  • 1982 Peter Erskine (Contemporary/OJC)
  • 1987 Transition (A&M)
  • 1988 Motion Poet (A&M)
  • 1988 Aurora (Denon)
  • 1990 Big Theatre (ah um)
  • 1991 Sweet Soul (Fuzzy Music)
  • 1992 You Never Know (ECM)
  • 1993 Time Being (ECM)
  • 1994 History Of The Drum (Interworld)
  • 1995 As It Is (ECM)
  • 1995 From Kenton to Now (Fuzzy Music)
  • 1998 Lava Jazz (Fuzzy Music)
  • 1998 Behind Closed Doors, Vol. 1 (Fuzzy Music)
  • 1999 Juni (ECM)
  • 2000 Live at Rocco (Fuzzy Music)
  • 2002 Badlands (Fuzzy Music)
  • 2003 Cologne (w/ Bill Dobbins and John Goldsby) (Fuzzy Music)
  • 2005 The Lounge Art Ensemble: Music For Moderns (Fuzzy Music)

[edit] Discography as Contributing Artist (Excerpt)

[edit] External links

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