Peter Erskine began playing the drums at the age of four and has been at the forefront of world-class jazz ensembles for 40 years.
His first major professional work was with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. After a three year stint with Kenton and a two year stay with Maynard Ferguson, Erskine 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 four 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. Erskine's other touring and recording credits (over 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, Kate Bush, Miroslav Vitous, Jan Garbarek, Michael Bublé and Seth MacFarlane; the BBC, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony orchestras, 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 big bands of Bob Mintzer, Bob Florence and Patrick Williams. He has also recorded with 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"), as well as a trio he shares with pianist Alan Pasqua. His newest band is the New Trio with pianist Vardan Ovsepian and bassist Damian Erskine.
Erskine 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 CD titled "Worth The Wait," recorded with trumpeter Tim Hagans and the Norrbotten Big Band (Sweden) won tremendous praise, and the follow-up CD “The Avatar Sessions” features Erskine, Hagans and the big band along with guest soloists Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, George Garzone and Rufus Reid.
Erskine has won the Modern Drummer magazine Readers' Poll in the "Jazz Drummer" category 10 times, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree from the Berklee College of Music. He is the Director of Drumset Studies at the Thornton School of Music at USC. He was the soloist along with Evelyn Glennie at the world premiere of the Double Concerto for Percussion titled "Fractured Lines" composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage in London at the Proms with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. That work was recorded for the Chandos label. Peter produces his own albums for the Fuzzy Music label, often recording in the same studio where these BFD samples were performed.
Recorded and produced by John Emrich
Note from John:
"Peter's drum sound relies mostly on the OH mics. We added a stereo room mic to this production, but not the Amb3 channel because it was not needed to capture Peter's signature sound. In addition, we added a couple of extra articulations that appear in the bass drum and Hihat (HH) channels on the jazz drums. The jazz bass drums have a "Pedal In" articultation where the beater is pushed into the drum head and left there. In jazz you will often hear that as a loud articulation at the end of a fill. The HH also features a stick hit against the shaft of the HH stand. This is another common jazz articulation. Enjoy!"
● Bass Drum - Shure SM7b and Beta52
● Snare - Shure KSM141
● Hi-Hat - Shure KSM141
● Toms - Shure Beta98
● Over Head - Shure KSM44
● Room - Nevaton MC404
● Mic Preamps - API 3124, MOTU 896 MK3 & 8Pre
● Recorded in Cubase 5.5 at 24/44.1
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