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Peter Erskine
began playing the drums at the age of four, and has been at the
forefront of world-class jazz ensembles for thirty-five years. His first
major professional work was with the Stan Kenton Orchestra,
which he joined in 1972. After a three year stint with Kenton and
a two year stay with Maynard Ferguson, he joined Weather
Report in 1978. The excellence of the partnership between Erskine
and bassist Jaco Pastorius was an integral part of that group's
success.
Following
his 4 years in Weather Report (having recorded five albums
with them including the Grammy Award winning "8:30"), he began to
play with Mike Brecker, Mike Mainieri,
Don Grolnick and Eddie Gomez in the group
Steps Ahead . His other touring and recording credits
(500 albums & film scores) include Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Chick Corea,
Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard,
Gary Burton & Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell,
Kurt Elling, Sadao Watanabe, Eliane Elias,
Mike Stern, Miroslav Vitous and Jan Garbarek;
the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble
Modern, the ASKO, Avanti, Remix & Absolute Ensembles; "Bass Desires " (with John Scofield, Bill Frisell,
and Marc Johnson), the John Abercrombie Trio, the
Kenny Wheeler Quintet & Big Band , the Yellowjackets and the Bob
Mintzer Big Band as
well as his own groups, including trios with John Taylor, Palle
Danielsson, Rita Marcotulli, and his current bands with guitarist Nguyen Le and bassist Michel Benita ("Trio E_L_B"), pianist Alan Pasqua and bassist Dave Carpenter, and saxophonist Bob Sheppard and Dave Carpenter ("The Lounge Art Ensemble").
Peter's solo albums include: "Peter Erskine", "Transition",
"Motion Poet", "Sweet Soul", "Big Theatre",
and his ECM recordings You
Never Know, "Time Being", "As
It Is" and "Juni"
as well as "History
of the DRUM", "Behind
Closed Doors," "Side
Man Blue," on his own label FUZZY
MUSIC. Peter is the co-leader of several albums, including "Prism" with Bill Dobbins and the WDR Big Band, "Cologne" with Bill Dobbins and John Goldsby, and "Dream Flight" with Nguyen Le and Michel Benita. His latest playing ventures include The Lounge
Art Ensemble; that group's most recent CD is titled "Music for Moderns "
and a piano trio with Alan Pasqua and Dave Carpenter;
their double CD "Peter Erskine & Alan Pasqua with David Carpenter - Live at Rocco" received
rave reviews from the press and fans, and have their last 2 CDs, "Badlands" and "Standards." He won his second Grammy Award for his work on the Randy & Michael Brecker album "Some Skunk Funk" (with Vince Mendoza and the WDR Big Band). His latest CD is titled "Worth The Wait," recorded with trumpeter Tim Hagans and the Norrbotten Big Band (Sweden).
Besides
touring and recording, Peter is now pursuing new avenues in his
career by composing for dance, theatre and animation. He has completed
musical scores for Shakespeare's King Richard II and A Midsummer
Night's Dream, the latter being honored by the Los Angeles Drama
Critics Circle with the award for the "Best Original Musical Score
1987." His music for The American Conservatory Theatre's production
of Twelfth Night was awarded by the Bay Area Drama Critics' Circle as the "Best Dramatic Score for 1989." Other works
for this medium are Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, the dance piece "History of the Drum" (written for the Kokuma Dance Company
of Birmingham, England), "The Yield of the Long Bond" and "Honor" for LA's "Matrix
Theatre," and the score for the critically-acclaimed Pasadena
Playhouse production of "Side Man." He has written
for animation, and composed the music for the Simon & Schuster
books-on-audio series "Alien Voices" starring Leonard
Nimoy and John deLancie of Star Trek fame. Peter
was Composer-in-Residence at the famed Hilliard Ensemble's
choral workshop in Germany during the summer of 2000, and received
a BBC commission to compose his suite "Music for Brass
and Percussion." Additional commissions include a piece for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and marimba soloist Colin Currie, plus a percussion ensemble piece written in memory of Nexus co-founder John Wyre ("A Bird Sings").
Erskine
is a graduate of the Interlochen
Arts Academy in Michigan, and studied percussion with George
Gaber at Indiana University. His own pedagogical efforts include
4 instructional videos as well as 6 books, including "Drumset
Essentials, Vols. 1, 2 & 3 " (a trilogy of instructional methods), plus the "Erskine Method" book and DVD, and "Time Awareness for All Musicians" (published by Alfred Music Publishing). His
other books include "Drum Concepts & Techniques"
and "The Drum Perspective", both published by the Hal
Leonard Corp. Peter conducts clinics,
classes and seminars world-wide. Peter the Director of Drumset Studies at USC Thornton School of Music, and is the  "Jazz
Drumming Consultant" to the Royal Academy of Music in London.
He has won the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers' Poll in the Jazz Drummer category 9 times, and
was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree from the Berklee College
of Music. Peter was the soloist along with Evelyn Glennie at the
world premiere of a new Double Concerto for Percussion, titled "Fractured
Lines," composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage, in London at the
Proms in July 2000 with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Symphony
Orchestra. That work was recorded for the Chandos label.
Peter
is 53 years old, and makes his home in Southern California.
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