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One of the most sought after drummers in the world, Peter Erskine began playing professionally
with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, which he joined in 1972. After a three year stint with
Kenton and a two year stay with Maynard Ferguson, he 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. Four years and five albums later, including the Grammy
award-winning 8:30, he moved on to play with the group Steps Ahead. His
other touring and recording credits (over 200 albums) include Steely Dan, Chick
Corea, Joe Henderson, Pat Metheny, Gary Burton, Sadao Watanabe, Jaco
Pastorius, John Scofield, John Patitucci, Doc Severinsen, the Boston Pops, the
John Abercrombie Trio, Mike Mainieri, Mike Brecker, Vanessa Williams, Joni
Mitchell, Ralph Towner, Al DiMeola, and many, many more. He has recorded ten
solo albums, including Motion Poet, Sweet Soul, Time Being, and his most
recent, As It Is.
Erskine is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and studied
percussion with George Gaber at Indiana University. His own pedagogical efforts include
3 instructional videos, a performance video titled "Peter Erskine Trio / Live at JazzBaltica"
(Hal Leonard Corp.) as well as 2 drum instruction books, the most recent book titled
"The Drum Perspective", also to be published by the Hal Leonard Corp. A collection of
Peter's compositions has just been published in France for world-wide distribution,
titled "My Book". Peter conducts clinics, classes and seminars world-wide. He has won
the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers' Poll in the Mainstream Jazz Drummer category 5
times, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree from the Berklee College of Music.
Besides touring and recording, Peter is now pursuing new avenues in his career by
composing for dance, theatre and animation. He has completed musical scores for
Shakespeare's King Richard II and A Midsummer Night's Dream, the latter being honored
by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle with the award for the "Best Original Musical
Score 1987." His music for The American Conservatory Theatre's production of Twelfth
Night was awarded by the Bay Area Drama Critics' Circle as the "Best Dra matic Score
for 1989." His most recent works for this medium are Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, the dance
piece "History of the Drum" (written for the Kokuma Dance Company of Birmingham,
England), and "The Yield of the Long Bond" for LA's "Matrix Theatre". He has scored
animation productions for the USA, Malaysia and Japan and he is now the composer of
music for the Simon & Schuster books-on-audio series "Alien Voices", starring Leonard
Nimoy and John deLancie of Star Trek fame. Recently Peter was the soloist, along with
Evelyn Glennie, at the world premiere of a new Double Concerto for Percussion composed
by Mark-Anthony Turnage, which was premiered in London at the Proms this July, 2000 with
Sir Andrew Davis conducting.
In addition, Peter keeps busy with his Trio, which records for his own label
Fuzzy Music,
as well as making guest appearances with such ensembles as the BBC Symphony
Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra,
Tampere, Finland,
Peter is 47 years old, and makes his home in Southern California with his wife
Mutsuko and their two children.
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