Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine ( born June 5, 1954 in Somers Point, New Jersey) is an American jazz drummer. He is considered one of the most versatile and busiest jazz drummers of the last decades. He is best known as a member of Weather Report, where he played from 1978 intermittently until 1986.
Life
Erskine began playing drums at the age of four years. After attending the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, he studied percussion at Indiana University. Since 1972 he has worked as a professional musician. After three years in the orchestra of Stan Kenton, he played for two years with Maynard Ferguson.
To a wider public, he is above all by its participation in the fusion group Weather Report (from 1978, to hear, inter alia, to " Mr. Gone" ) are known, which he left after five years, and then in the fusion band Steps to play ahead.
Together with bass players like Jaco Pastorius, John Patitucci, Michael Formanek, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Dave Holland, Michel Benita, Palle Danielsson, Dave Carpenter and Buell Neidlinger he made an exemplary rhythm section.
Erskine has previously worked as a drummer on over 700 LP or CD productions. He has worked alongside jazz with musicians from pop and rock. His playing is characterized by flawless hand and Fußwerklichkeit, musicality and interactivity.
Since the 1980s Erskine took as head of a private trios on a series of albums for the Munich label ECM, where the pianist John Taylor and bassist Palle Danielsson participated.
Even as a writer of textbooks and instructional videos Erskine has rendered outstanding. The DVD, "The Erskine Method for Drumset " (Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. ) documented his pedagogical and musical talent very strongly. He also runs, together with his wife Mutsuko, own CD production, Fuzzy Music.
Until 2005, he used drums from Yamaha, then Drum Workshop Equipment. Erskine praised 2006 collaboration with DW.
From the readers of Modern Drummer magazine, so of drummers, he has been elected eight times to the best jazz drummer.
Works
Writings
- Mon Livre / My Book (1996 )
- Time Awareness
- The Erskine Method for Drumset
- Peter Erskine the Drum Perspective
- Drum Concepts and Techniques