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.
Produced by John Emrich, this collection includes grooves formatted for FXpansion BFD2® and BFD Eco® as well as General MIDI Standard MIDI Files which can be used with any GM compatible drum software or hardware --- this includes drum machines and synthesizers which have drum sounds.
Optimized for 1 Kick, 1 Snare, 2 Rack Toms, 1 Floor Tom, 1 Hihat, 2 Crash Cymbals and
1 Ride Cymbal
BFD Eco and BFD2 are registered trademarks of FXpansion
Grammy® is a registered trademark of the Grammy Foundation
Virtually Erskine is a Cymbal Masters, LLC product |
