Peter Erskine
Encyclopedia
Peter Erskine is an American jazz drummer
and composer
. He has enjoyed a long and successful career as a session drummer, recording and touring with many famous jazz and rock artists, including Steely Dan
and Weather Report
. Erskine also produces teaching materials, such as books, videos, and online content.
, 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 and the Jaco Pastorius big band Word of Mouth
, he joined Steps Ahead
. His big band
recordings with the Bob Mintzer Big Band
are excellent modern big band jazz/funk performances 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.
His playing style is characterized by a thorough dedication to 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 with "flexible" timekeeping as do most traditionalist jazz drummers. It remains a matter of personal opinion 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.
Today, Erskine splits his time as a musician and that of a professor at the Thornton School of Music
at the University of Southern California
.
In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records
release Swingrass '83
.
In 2011 he appeared on stage at the Royal Opera House, London in the new opera Anna Nicole
.
With Warren Bernhardt
With Randy Brecker
/Michael Brecker
With Gary Burton
With Kate Bush
With George Cables
With Pino Daniele
With Eddie Daniels
With Al Di Meola
With Marty Ehrlich
With Joe Farrell
With Maynard Ferguson
With Alessandro Galati
With Jan Garbarek
With Giorgio
With Gordon Goodwin
With Don Grolnick
With Bobby Hutcherson
With Marc Johnson
With Rickie Lee Jones
With Stan Kenton
With Diana Krall
With Rolf Kühn
With Christof Lauer
With Nguyên Lê
With Manhattan Jazz Quintet
With Mike Mainieri
With Vince Mendoza
With Bob Mintzer
With Joni Mitchell
With Jaco Pastorius
With Gary Peacock
With Thomas Quasthoff
With Steely Dan
With Steps Ahead
With Christoph Stiefel
With Ralph Towner
With Mark-Anthony Turnage
/John Scofield
With Weather Report
With Kenny Wheeler
With Joe Zawinul
Jazz drumming
Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion and 1980s-era latin jazz...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He has enjoyed a long and successful career as a session drummer, recording and touring with many famous jazz and rock artists, including Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
and Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
. Erskine also produces teaching materials, such as books, videos, and online content.
Biography
Peter Erskine was born in Somers PointSomers Point, New Jersey
Somers Point is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 10,795.The City of Somers Point is in the eastern part of Atlantic County, southwest of Atlantic City.-History:...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. 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
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
.
His professional career started in 1972 when he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra. After three years with Kenton he joined Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
for two years. In 1978 he joined Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
, joining the legendary Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
to form a formidable rhythm section. After four years and five albums with Weather Report and the Jaco Pastorius big band Word of Mouth
Word of Mouth (Jaco Pastorius album)
Word of Mouth was the second album by Jaco Pastorius, released in 1981 while the bassist was a member of Weather Report, and also the name of a big band group that Pastorius assembled and with whom he toured from 1980 to 1986...
, he joined Steps Ahead
Steps Ahead
Steps Ahead is a jazz fusion group and the brainchild of vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. According to the liner notes of the group's 1983 debut album , entitled Steps Ahead, "Steps began as a part-time venture in 1979 at Seventh Avenue South, a New York City nightclub." The group began releasing...
. His big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
recordings with the Bob Mintzer Big Band
Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader based in Los Angeles, California. Mintzer is a member of the jazz rock band the Yellowjackets.-With The Yellowjackets:*Greenhouse, 1991;*Live Wires, 1992;...
are excellent modern big band jazz/funk performances studied by many students of drums and drumming.
His music-style spanning talent also features on Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
's 2005 album Aerial
Aerial (album)
Aerial is the eighth studio album by British singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush.-Overview:Aerial is Bush's first double album, and was released after a twelve year absence from the music industry during which Bush devoted her time to family and the rearing of her son, Bertie...
, where Erskine teams with bass player Eberhard Weber
Eberhard Weber
Eberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, Weber is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing...
. Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
, Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias is a Brazilian jazz pianist, arranger, vocalist and songwriter.-Biography:...
, Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
and Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
among many more still choose Peter for his multifaceted musicality. Even Scottish and Finnish Classical Orchestras have had him as a featured musician.
His playing style is characterized by a thorough dedication to 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 with "flexible" timekeeping as do most traditionalist jazz drummers. It remains a matter of personal opinion 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.
Today, Erskine splits his time as a musician and that of a professor at the Thornton School of Music
USC Thornton School of Music
The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999, is one of the premier music schools in the United States...
at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records
Antilles Records
Antilles Records was an American record label that was a subsidiary of Island Records.Its jazz catalog is now managed by Verve Records.-Discography:*1001 Joanne Brackeen - Special Identity 1981*1002 Biréli Lagrène- Routes To Django 1980...
release Swingrass '83
Swingrass '83
Swingrass '83 was a jazz and folk music ensemble which recorded one eponymous album for Antilles Records.Members Andy Statman, Richard Greene, Marty Crystal, Peter Ivers, Fred Tackett, Peter Erskine and Buell Neidlinger crafted the album in studio but with no overdubbing.The album consists of...
.
In 2011 he appeared on stage at the Royal Opera House, London in the new opera Anna Nicole
Anna Nicole
Anna Nicole is an opera in 2 acts by Mark-Anthony Turnage to an English libretto by Richard Thomas. It premiered on 17 February 2011 at the Royal Opera House, London, directed by Richard Jones. The story is based on the life of Anna Nicole Smith. A recording of the opera was broadcast on BBC Four...
.
As leader
- 1982 Peter Erskine (Contemporary/OJC)
- 1987 Transition (Denon)
- 1988 Motion Poet (Denon)
- 1989 Aurora (Denon)
- 1990 Big Theatre (ah um)
- 1991 Sweet Soul (Fuzzy Music)
- 1992 You Never KnowYou Never Know (album)You Never Know is an album by drummer Peter Erskine featuring pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson recorded in 1992 and released on the ECM label-Reception:...
(ECM) - 1993 Time BeingTime Being (Peter Erskine album)Time Being is an album by drummer Peter Erskine featuring pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson recorded in 1993 and released on the ECM label-Reception:...
(ECM) - 1994 History Of The Drum (Interworld)
- 1995 As It IsAs It Is (album)As It Is is an album by drummer Peter Erskine featuring pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson recorded in 1995 and released on the ECM label-Reception:...
(ECM) - 1995 From Kenton to Now (Fuzzy Music)
- 1998 Lava Jazz (Fuzzy Music)
- 1998 Behind Closed Doors, Vol. 1 (Fuzzy Music)
- 1998 JuniJuni (album)Juni is an album by drummer Peter Erskine featuring pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson recorded in 1997 and released on the ECM label-Reception:...
(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)
As sideman
With John AbercrombieJohn Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
- Current EventsCurrent Events (album)Current Events is an album by guitarist John Abercrombie with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine recorded in 1985 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1985) - Getting ThereGetting There (album)Getting There is a 1988 release by John Abercrombie, featuring his working trio of the time, including bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine. Additionally, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker makes guest appearances on three tracks...
(ECM, 1987) - John Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter ErskineJohn Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter ErskineJohn Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter Erskine is a live album by guitarist John Abercrombie with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine recorded in 1988 in Boston and released on the ECM label-Reception:...
(ECM, 1988) - NovemberNovember (album)November is an album by guitarist John Abercrombie with saxophonist John Surman, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine recorded in 1992 and released on the ECM label-Reception:...
(ECM, 1992) - The Hudson Project (2000)
With Warren Bernhardt
Warren Bernhardt
Warren Bernhardt is a noted pianist in jazz, pop and classical music.His father was a pianist, leading him to have early childhood exposure to piano, and he learned some rudiments of keyboarding from his friends. At five his parents moved to New York City where he began studying seriously under...
- Warren Bernhardt Trio (1983)
With Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
/Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
- Some Skunk Funk (2005)
With Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
- Times Like TheseTimes Like These (Gary Burton album)Times Like These is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton recorded in 1988 and released on the GRP label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars stating "Burton sounds fine on the diverse material...
(GRP, 1988) - ReunionReunion (Gary Burton album)Reunion is a 1989 album by Gary Burton, reuniting him with guitarist Pat Metheny for their first recordings in almost 13 years. Both have been called prodigies; Burton when he joined George Shearing's group in 1963 at age 19. Burton met Metheny at the Wichita Jazz Festival in 1973, when Metheny...
(GRP, 1989)
With Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
- AerialAerial (album)Aerial is the eighth studio album by British singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush.-Overview:Aerial is Bush's first double album, and was released after a twelve year absence from the music industry during which Bush devoted her time to family and the rearing of her son, Bertie...
(2004)
With George Cables
George Cables
George Andrew Cables is a jazz pianist, born November 14, 1944 in New York City.He has played with Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, and others.His own recordings include the 1980 Cables Vision with Freddie Hubbard among others....
- Cables Vision (1982)
With Pino Daniele
Pino Daniele
Pino Daniele is an Italian vocalist, composer, and musician, whose influences cover a wide number of genres, fusing pop, blues, jazz, Italian and Middle eastern music into his own unique brand of world music.-Studio albums:...
- Passi d'Autore (2004)
With Eddie Daniels
Eddie Daniels
Eddie Daniels is an American musician. Though he is best known as a jazz clarinet player, he has also played alto and tenor saxophones, as well as classical music on the clarinet....
- Benny Rides Again (1992)
With Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...
- Orange And Blue (1994)
- The Infinite Desire (1998)
With Marty Ehrlich
Marty Ehrlich
Marty Ehrlich is a multi-instrumentalist and is considered one of the leading figures in experimental or avant-garde jazz....
- Relativity (1999)
With Joe Farrell
Joe Farrell
Joseph Carl Firrantello , known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:Farrell was born in Chicago...
- Sonic Text (1979)
With Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
- Conquistador (1977)
With Alessandro Galati
- Jason Salad! (1997)
With Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
- StARStAR (album)StAR is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, featuring Miroslav Vitous and Peter Erskine, released on the ECM label in 1991.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1992)
With Giorgio
- Party Of The Century (2010)
With Gordon Goodwin
Gordon Goodwin
Gordon L. Goodwin is a Grammy award-winning American studio pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger and conductor. He now lives in Southern California with his wife Lisa, daughter Madison and two sons, Trevor and Garrison.- Early years :...
- Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band XXL (2003)
With Don Grolnick
Don Grolnick
Don Grolnick was an American jazz and pop pianist and composer, most noteworthy for his work with artists such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Billy Cobham, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Bob Mintzer, Dave Holland and Steely Dan...
- Weaver of Dreams (1990)
With Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...
- Un Poco LocoUn Poco Loco (album)Un Poco Loco is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson recorded in 1979 and released on the Columbia label. The album was Hutcherson's last for Columbia.-Reception:...
(1979)
With Marc Johnson
- Bass DesiresBass Desires (album)Bass Desires is a 1985 studio album by jazz bassist Marc Johnson released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 4½ stars stating "The pairing of electric guitarists Bill Frisell and John Scofield had to be one of the most auspicious since John...
(ECM, 1985) - Second SightSecond Sight (Marc Johnson album)Second Sight is a 1987 studio album by jazz bassist Marc Johnson released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "This advanced unit performs eight group originals that cover a wide variety of moods, from introspective, spacy pieces to ones...
(ECM, 1987)
With Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...
- Flying CowboysFlying CowboysFlying Cowboys is an album by Rickie Lee Jones, released in September 1989 and produced by Walter Becker of Steely Dan.- Genesis :After the release of The Magazine in 1984, Jones retreated from the limelight...
(1989)
With Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
- National Anthems of the World (1972)
- Fire, Fury, and Fun (1974)
With Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
- The Look of Love (2002)
- The Girl in the Other RoomThe Girl in the Other RoomThe Girl in the Other Room is the eighth album by jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall. For the first time, she performs songs that she co-wrote with her husband Elvis Costello. The album has already gone top 5 in the UK and debuted high on the Billboard 200 in May 2004...
(2004)
With Rolf Kühn
- Internal Eyes (2003)
With Christof Lauer
Christof Lauer
Christof Lauer is a German jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist, born in Melsungen, Germany, perhaps most well known in Europe where he has done projects with various musicians, such as Palle Danielsson, Carla Bley, Michel Godard, Volker Kriegel, Michel Portal, Maria Joao, Anthony Cox, Gary Husband,...
- Christof Lauer (1989)
With Nguyên Lê
Nguyên Lê
Nguyên Lê is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays electric bass guitar and guitar synthesizer....
- Miracles (1996)
- E_L_B (2004)
- E_L_B - Dream Flight (2008)
With Manhattan Jazz Quintet
Manhattan Jazz Quintet
The Manhattan Jazz Quintet is a jazz ensemble consisting of David Matthews on piano, Lew Soloff on trumpet, Victor Lewis on drums, Andy Snitzer on saxophone, and Charnett Moffett on bass...
- Funky Strut (1991)
With Mike Mainieri
Mike Mainieri
Michael T. Mainieri, Jr. is a vibraphonist best known for his work with the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead....
- American Diary (1994)
With Vince Mendoza
Vince Mendoza
Vince Mendoza is a music arranger and composer.Mendoza was born in Connecticut and studied guitar as a child, influenced by classical music, soul and jazz. He then took up the trumpet, which he continued to play throughout his time at Ohio State University, where he played in the Jazz Ensemble and...
- Start Here (1990)
- Jazzpaña (1992)
- Sketches (1993)
With Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader based in Los Angeles, California. Mintzer is a member of the jazz rock band the Yellowjackets.-With The Yellowjackets:*Greenhouse, 1991;*Live Wires, 1992;...
- Quality Time (1998)
With Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
- MingusMingus (album)Mingus is the tenth studio album by Joni Mitchell, and a collaboration with jazz musician Charles Mingus. Recorded in the months before his death, it would be Mingus's final musical project; the album is wholly dedicated to him....
(1979)
With Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
- Word of MouthWord of Mouth (Jaco Pastorius album)Word of Mouth was the second album by Jaco Pastorius, released in 1981 while the bassist was a member of Weather Report, and also the name of a big band group that Pastorius assembled and with whom he toured from 1980 to 1986...
(1981) - Birthday Concert (1982)
With Gary Peacock
Gary Peacock
Gary Peacock is an American jazz double-bassist.-Biography:After military service in Germany, in the early sixties he worked on the west coast with Barney Kessel, Bud Shank, Paul Bley and Art Pepper, then moved to New York. He worked there with Bley, the Bill Evans trio , and Albert Ayler's trio...
- GuambaGuambaGuamba is an album by American jazz bassist Gary Peacock, with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, and drummer Peter Erskine, recorded in 1987 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1987)
With Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff is a German bass-baritone. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proven to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.-Biography:Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with...
- Watch What Happens (2007)
With Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
- Alive in America (1995)
With Steps Ahead
Steps Ahead
Steps Ahead is a jazz fusion group and the brainchild of vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. According to the liner notes of the group's 1983 debut album , entitled Steps Ahead, "Steps began as a part-time venture in 1979 at Seventh Avenue South, a New York City nightclub." The group began releasing...
- Steps AheadSteps Ahead (album)One can argue that Steps Ahead is the debut album by the American jazz group Steps Ahead, that was originally released on Elektra Records in 1983. Actually, the group was called Steps before, and Steps Ahead replaced Don Grolnik with Eliane Elias on piano...
(1983) - Modern Times (1984)
With Christoph Stiefel
- Ancient Longing (1994)
With Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:...
- Open LetterOpen Letter (Ralph Towner album)Open Letter is an album by guitarist Ralph Towner recorded in 1991 and 1992 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Rick Anderson awarded the album 3 stars stating "Ralph Towner's a difficult case. The snoozy noodlings of his former band Oregon can be downright stupefying,...
(ECM, 1992)
With Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...
/John Scofield
- Scorched (2004)
With Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
- Mr. Gone (1978)
- 8:308:308:30 is an album by the jazz fusion group Weather Report. It was recorded live except for tracks 10-13, which were studio recorded. Among other titles, it features a live version of the group's signature piece "Birdland". The album won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance.-History:The...
(1979) - Night PassageNight Passage (Weather Report album)-Personnel:*Josef Zawinul – Keyboards*Wayne Shorter – Saxophones*Jaco Pastorius – Bass*Peter Erskine – Drums*Robert Thomas Jr. – Hand drums...
(1980) - Weather Report
With Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
- Music for Large & Small EnsemblesMusic For Large & Small EnsemblesMusic For Large & Small Ensembles is an album by Canadian jazz trumpeter, Kenny Wheeler which was released in 1990 through ECM Records.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 4½ stars.-Track listing:DISC 1: THE SWEET TIME SUITE:...
(ECM, 1990) - The Widow in the WindowThe Widow in the WindowThe Widow in the Window is an album by trumpeter Kenny Wheeler recorded in 1990 and released on the ECM label. "Ana", the longest piece on the album, was originally written for Alexander von Schlippenbach's Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, which would eventually be recorded in 1989...
(ECM, 1990)
With Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
- Weather Update (2005)
Books
- Time Awareness
- The Erskine Method for Drumset
- My Book
- The Drum Perspective
- Drum Concepts and Techniques