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Peter Erskine facts for kids

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Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine.jpg
Erskine with Michel Benita
Background information
Born (1954-06-05) June 5, 1954 (age 69)
Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Drums
Years active 1972–present
Labels
  • Contemporary
  • Denon
  • Ah Um
  • RCA/Novus
  • Passport
Associated acts

Peter Clark Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead.

Early life and education

Peter-erskine
Peter Erskine in 2014

Erskine was born in Somers Point, 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.

Career

His professional music career started in 1972 when he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra. After four years with Kenton, he joined Maynard Ferguson for two years. In 1978, he joined Weather Report, joining Jaco Pastorius in the rhythm section. After four years and five albums with Weather Report and the Jaco Pastorius big band's Word of Mouth, he joined Steps Ahead.

In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records release Swingrass '83. He toured the US in 1992 with Chick Corea.

Erskine splits his time as a musician and a professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

He was featured on Kate Bush's 2005 album Aerial, where Erskine teamed with bass player Eberhard Weber. Diana Krall, Eliane Elias, Queen Latifah and Linda Ronstadt, as well as Scottish and Finnish classical orchestras, have had Erskine perform as a featured musician.

In 2011, he appeared on stage at the Royal Opera House, London in the new opera Anna Nicole.

Honors and awards

In 1992, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.

Personal life

Erskine is married to Mutsuko Erskine. The two have two children, actress and writer Maya Erskine, and film editor and producer Taichi Erskine.

Discography

As leader

Year recorded Title Label Year released Notes
1982? Peter Erskine Contemporary 1982
1986? Transition Passport Jazz 1986
1988 Motion Poet Denon 1988
1989? Aurora Denon 1989
1991 Sweet Soul Novus 1991
1992 You Never Know ECM 1993
1993 Time Being ECM 1994
1995? History of the Drum Interworld 1995
1995 As It Is ECM 1996
1997? As The Lounge Art Ensemble, Lava Jazz Fuzzy Music 1997
1997 Juni ECM 1999
1999 Live at Rocco Fuzzy Music 2000 [2CD] live
2001 Side Man Blue Fuzzy Music 2016
2010 Joy Luck Fuzzy Music 2011
2015 Dr. Um Fuzzy Music 2016
2016? In Praise of Shadows Fuzzy Music 2016
2016 Second Opinion Fuzzy Music 2017
2017 Live In Italy Abeat 2018 live in Occhiobello
2018? On Call Fuzzy Music 2018 [2CD]

Source:

As co-leader

  • 1985: Current Events with John Abercrombie, Marc Johnson (ECM, 1986)
  • 1988: John Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter Erskine (ECM, 1989) – live
  • 1991: StAR with Jan Garbarek, Miroslav Vitous (ECM, 1991)
  • 1994: Traction Avant with Alessandro Galati, Palle Danielsson (Via Veneto, 1995)
  • 1995?: From Kenton to Now with Richard Torres (Fuzzy Music, 1995)
  • 1996: Jason Salad! with Alessandro Galati, John Patitucci, Bob Sheppard (Via Veneto, 1997)
  • 1996: Turnage: Blood on the Floor with John Scofield, Martin Robertson, Peter Rundel (Decca, 1997)
  • 1998: Live at the Baked Potato with Dirk K., Jörg Kleutgens (Kalle Fornia, 1998) – live
  • 1998: The Hudson Project with John Abercrombie, Bob Mintzer, John Patitucci (Stretch, 2000) – live
  • 2000: ELB with Nguyên Lê, Michel Benita (ACT, 2001)
  • 2001: Badlands with Alan Pasqua, Dave Carpenter (Fuzzy Music, 2002)
  • 2002?: Turnage: Fractured Lines with Evelyn Glennie, Christian Lindberg, Leonard Slatkin (Chandos, 2002)
  • 2006: Worth the Wait with Tim Hagans (Fuzzy Music, 2008) – live
  • 2008?: Dream Flight with ELB (ACT, 2008)
  • 2009?: The Trio Live @ Charlie O's (Fuzzy Music, 2009) – live
  • 2009: Scenes from a Dream with Chris Minh Doky, Larry Goldings (Red Dot Music, 2010)
  • 2010?: The Interlochen Concert with Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2010) – live
  • 2010?: Standards 2: Movie Music with Bob Mintzer, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Alan Pasqua (Fuzzy Music, 2011) – soundtrack
  • 2014: Trio M/E/D with Palle Danielsson, Rita Marcotulli (Abeat, 2015) – live
  • 2015: How Long Is Now? with Lars Danielsson, Iiro Rantala (ACT, 2016)
  • 2019: 3 Nights in L.A. with George Garzone, Alan Pasqua and Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2019)[3CD] – live
  • 2021: Live In Italy with Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2022) – live

Source:

As a member

Steps Ahead

  • Steps Ahead (Elektra/Musician, 1983)
  • Modern Times (Elektra/Musician, 1984)
  • Magnetic (Elektra, 1986)
  • Holding Together (NYC, 2002)[2CD] – live rec. 1999

As sideman

Books

  • Time Awareness
  • The Erskine Method for Drumset
  • My Book
  • The Drum Perspective
  • Drum Concepts and Techniques
  • No Beethoven: An Autobiography and Chronicle of Weather Report

DVD

  • The Erskine Method for Drumset (Alfred Publishing Company)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Peter Erskine para niños

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