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John
Riley (Drums)
John
began playing drums at age eight, after receiving a snare drum
as a gift. With the support, encouragement and patience of his
parents, John and Mary Ann, he played in the school band and
began drum lessons with a good local teacher, Tom Sicola.
While
under Tom's guidance, he gained control of the snare drum through
work on the rudiments and reading. Eventually, he acquired
a complete drumset and lessons expanded to include "beats
of the day," coordination and reading studies for the drumset. |
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At age twelve,
John began playing in rock bands and heard his first jazz recordings,
the soundtrack to The Gene Krupa Story
and Max Roach's Conversation. Two years later, he played his first "professional" gig,
which he obtained through an audition played over the telephone.
John
began studying with Joe Morello in 1971, after meeting him at a
drum symposium. John went on to attend the University of North Texas,
where
he was introduced to a larger world of music and percussion. While
at UNT, he played in, toured, and recorded with the famed One O'clock
Lab Band.
In 1976,
he moved to New York City and was soon called to join the Woody Herman
Band. Following that great experience, John
returned
to New York and began freelancing with a wide spectrum of world
class musicians including:
| Bob
Berg |
Carnegie
Hall Jazz Band |
Miles
Davis |
Stan
Getz |
| Dizzy
Gillespie |
Milt
Jackson |
Joe
Lovano |
Bob
Mintzer |
| John
Patitucci |
Gary
Peacock |
John
Scofield |
Mike
Stern |
| the
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra |
...
and many others |
John has
a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz education from the University of
North Texas and a Master of Music in jazz studies from Manhattan School
of Music. He is on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and SUNY
Purchase, and is an Artist in Residence at Amsterdam Conservatory,
Holland.
John is also the author of The Art of Bop Drumming, Beyond Bop Drumming,
The Jazz Drummer's Workshop, and has taught master classes around the
world.
You can
read more about John at his extensive website, http://www.johnriley.org/.
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