AKA ‘The Drum Guru’ Martin’s prime ‘claim to fame’ is that he’s generally regarded as Europe’s leading Drum Tuning Educator and Clinician.
In 2007 he released his first DVD - ‘Tuning Basics For The Modern Drum Set’ which is already an essential addition to any drummer’s library.
Apart from his work with tuning of the drumset, Martin is also highly regarded as a player, clinician and eduactor.
A former pupil of percussion guru Max Abrams, Mark worked in clubs, bars, Theatres, TV/Radio sessions, cruises from the early 1970s until the mid-eighties, when he became in-house drummer at Ronnie Scott’s.
Dizzy Gillespie, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, Mark Murphy, Tim Garland, Flora Purim, Johnny Griffin, David Gilmour, Hatfield & the North, Soft Machine, Liane Carroll, Norma Winstone, Ronnie Scott, Geoff Eales , John Etheridge, Tony Coe , Georgie Fame, James Moody, Cedar Walton, Gary Boyle, Teddy Edwards, Ian Shaw, Joclyn Brown, Hugh Cornwell, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, Lea DeLaria are just some of the many fine artists that this exciting/creative drummer has worked with.
He’s a much in-demand studio player and first-call guy for many visiting American Jazz artists.
Pete Cater was born in Lichfield in 1969. The son of a drummer, he showed natural flair for the instrument from infancy and by age 2 had appeared on local TV soloing in 5/4.
Jazz has always been Pete’s first love, and his early heroes on the instrument were Joe Morello, Kenny Clare, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. Pete got his first real taste of big band drumming and national attention aged 13 when he joined the award-winning Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra and by 16 he was doing professional work both live and in studios.
Lack of opportunity to progress caused Pete to relocate to London in 1992. He quickly established himself as a player with tremendous versatility, and whilst his later career has been largely jazz oriented he remains in demand to a wide variety of musical situations.
His own group, The Pete Cater Big Band has released two internationally acclaimed CDs and was big band of the year in the British Jazz Awards 2000. The band’s new album will be out in early 2006.
Furthermore his performing career takes him all over the world with a diverse range of artists, from jazz/electronica pioneer Matthew Herbert to veteran performers “The Best of British Jazz” and the Ted Heath Big Band. Away from the specialist jazz niche Pete has worked with a diverse range of artists including Tom Jones and Jamie Cullum. In addition he is constant demand as a freelance player, and recently appeared in BBC4’s “Jazz Britannia” season.
Other bands and artists with whom Pete Cater has appeared include: The BBC Big Band, Echoes of Ellington, Back to Basie, The Ricky Woodard Quartet, The Terry Gibbs/Buddy DeFranco Quintet, The Vic Ash Quartet, Lillian Boutee and Friends, Benny Carter, Harry Edison, Barney Kessell, Scott Hamilton, Harry Allen, John Dankworth, Dick Morrisey, Ronnie Scott, Jeff Berlin, Sax Appeal, and recorded and toured with the late American saxophonist Spike Robinson.
Pete has appeared everywhere from the Hollywood Bowl to the Tokyo Blue Note and top line UK venues including the Barbican Centre, The Royal Festival Hall and Ronnie Scott’s Club, and was the subject of an in-depth article in the November ’04 edition of “Drummer” magazine. Pete is also in great demand as an educator and clinician, and has for many years been associated with the renowned Drumtech school in London.
Lynchpin Jamiroquai band member and drummer supreme Derrick McKenzie joined the band in 1994 for the recording of their sophomore album Return Of The Space Cowboy. Derrick was born on 27th March 1964, with drumming in his blood. His career was kick-started early with performances on his Mum’s tables, chairs, telephone books and biscuit tins! After a succession of jobs to support his drumming, Derrick became a full time and sought after session drummer with bands such as Urban Species. When Jay was looking for a drummer in 1994 he knew straight away that Derrick was the man. Influenced by classic soul artists like Patrice Rushen, virtuoso musicians like Prince and his drumming hero Billy Cobham, Derrick fitted right in to the Jamiroquai family. In fact he was whacking the skins so hard and with such enthusiasm at his first Jamiroquai gig (in Paris, 1994) he had to have his aching arms sprayed with Raljex! His favourite Jamiroquai show so far has been Wembley Arena 1999 and visiting Buenos Aires with the band in 1997 was also one of the highpoints of his career.
Andy has played drums for 30 years, recording and touring with a varied roster of artists, and he is an experienced music educator.
Andy has toured all over the world, playing to crowds of 30, 000 with rock god, Robert Plant and he has recorded obscure jazz fusion with guitar whiz Phi Yaan Zek.
He is currently the drummer with UK prog legends IQ and he has recorded two albums with Frost, brainchild of the million selling, Ivor Novello award winning Jem Godfrey.
He has recorded jingles for the BBC, made folk albums with Nigel Hawthorne and garage remixes for Red Dragon.
Andy is currently a lecturer in music at Kidderminster College, and he has performed clinics and drum workshops at most of the UK drum events and he has performed alongside the likes of Terry Bozzio, Thomas Lang, Kenny Aronoff, Simon Phillips amongst many others. In 2007 he released a tuition DVD entitled ‘The Might Bash’
The Jungle Drummer is a unique live performer who has developed his own style through his musical awareness and experience, from ten years of playing with the biggest live acts in Turntablism, dance music and D&B. His stamina makes him able to drum at 180 BPM for 2 hours plus and his all out approach understanding of DJ culture, technical ability make him stand out on his own as a live drummer.
Jungle also writes a column for Drummer Magazine, and he’ll be bringing a very unique slant on drumming to Bath 09
Jerry started out on the drums at age 8, played his first gig at age 14 and by 18 was playing drums on the Gloria Gaynor tour. He is an incredibly versatile drummer and has played with a variety of top Jazz, pop and gospel acts. He has appeared on many different promotional tours with the likes of Tina Turner, Angie Stone and Incognito as well as live tours with diverse artists such as Will Young, Girls Aloud and Belinda Carlilse to name a few. He has recorded DVD’s with Jamelia, the London Community Gospel Choir and also a DVD for the very first ‘Fame academy’ tour.
Born and raised in New Orleans (and living there still, when he’s not on the road), Stanton Moore is very much a product of geography, culture and creative networking. He grew up in the thriving music scene of his hometown that included Professor Longhair, Doctor John, the Meters and countless other Big Easy mainstays.
In the early ‘90s, Moore hooked up with guitarist Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio and keyboardist Rich Vogel and saxophonist Ben Ellman to form the New Orleans-based “steam-roller” funk band known as Galactic. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in music and business from Loyola University, Moore and the band made their first record (the widely acclaimed Coolin’ Off) and hit the road to do nearly 200 gigs a year for the first ten years of Galactic’s existence. The band has since released five more albums since Coolin’ Off, and continues to amass a worldwide audience via recording and touring globally.
Aided by eight-string guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter and saxophonist Skerik (Les Claypool, John Scofield, Roger Waters), Moore launched his solo career in the late ‘90s with the All Kooked Out!, an album recorded in New Orleans just after Mardi Gras in 1998 and released later that year. In addition to the Moore-Hunter-Skerik core, All Kooked Out! also featured a handful of New Orleans horn players, including Brent Rose, Brian Seeger, Matt Perrine, Ben Ellman, and former Sun Ra trumpeter Michael Ray. Moore extended the solo discography with the 2001 release of Flyin’ the Koop (Verve/Blue Thumb).
In the midst of Moore’s All Kooked Out! sessions, yet another concept was taking shape. Outtakes from the session turned into the first Garage a Trois release, Mysteryfunk (1999). In 2000, the trio was augmented by percussionist Mike Dillon (Les Claypool, Ani DeFranco) and has since released two more albums – Emphasizer in 2003 and Outre Mer (on Telarc) in 2005 – both with Moore behind the drum kit.
Moore continued his Telarc affiliation with the September 2006 release of III, his third solo recording. Boasting a trademark sound that Modern Drummer has called “infectious, jazz-meets-Bonham, nouveau second-line,” III featured organist Robert Walter (Greyboy Allstars, The Head Hunters), guitarist Will Bernard (T.J. Kirk, Doctor Lonnie Smith), along with a few special guests: Skerik and trombonist Mark Mullins (Galactic, Bonerama, Harry Connick, Jr., Better Than Ezra).The album was recorded at the legendary Preservation Hall in New Orleans.
Emphasis (on parenthis), the followup to III, is due in stores in April 2008. The album includes the scaled back session crew of Moore, Robert Walter and Will Bernard. “When it came time to do another record,” says Moore, “I had already known for a while that I wanted to build on the momentum of this band – three musicians who were becoming a unit unto themselves – and I wanted to get a little more adventurous with the music itself.”
Moore has also been keeping busy with numerous side projects, including new albums with Galactic and Garage a Trois. He’s also working on his second book/DVD project, Groove Alchemy, an instructional package focusing on groove drumming (Groove Alchemy is the followup to a similar instructional package in 2005 that focused on New Orleans drumming styles).
He stays very involved in education, constantly teaching private lessons in New Orleans and on the road. He was a contributing writer for Drum! magazine and is currently a regular writer for Modern Drummer, which featured him on their April 2004 cover. Showing a rare versatility, he appeared (within the same year) on Heavy Metal Grammy nominees Corrosion of Conformity’s In the Arms of God, Irma Thomas’ After the Rain and Robert Walter’s Super Heavy Organ. In 2005, he launched a signature line of cymbals with Bosphorus Cymbals and a signature drum stick with the Vic Firth stick company.
Despite some severe property damage and other personal setbacks in the aftermath of Katrina, Moore was quick to lend a hand to other drummers in New Orleans by donating cymbals and other gear to musicians whose equipment was damaged by the storm. He has also played a number of benefit concerts in the past year to help raise money for Katrina victims. He recently spearheaded the Tipitina’s Music Workshop to work with young and developing musicians in the New Orleans area. The workshop will focus on the preservation of New Orleans music and culture and will host a rotating cast of well known local and national musicians to work with the attendees. He continues to play dates throughout the Big Easy as well as globally with an ever-evolving cast of musicians: John Scofield; Karl Denson; George Porter, Jr., and Leo Nocentelli (of the Meters); Charlie Hunter; Warren Haynes; John Medeski and John Wood (of Medeski, Martin and Wood); Donald Harrison Jr.; Robert Walter; the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars; the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Corrosion of Conformity; and Irma Thomas to name a few.