Peter Erskine

Peter Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, (USA), and began playing drums at the age of 4. He began his career at the age of 18 with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, with whom he worked for 3 years.

He then played in Weather Report for four years, recording five records, including a Grammy Award winner with “8:30.” After this experience he began playing with Mike Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Don Grolnick and Eddie Gomez of Steps Ahead.

Peter Erskine is featured on more than 600 records, including work with the big bands of Maynard Ferguson, Bob Mintzer, the Word of Mouth Big Band of Jaco Pastorius and Kenny Wheeler, and orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, London Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also recorded with musicians such as Steely Dan, Lyle Mays, Joni Mitchell, the Yellowjackets, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Pino Daniele, Rita Marcotulli, Freddie Hubbard, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Massimo Colombo, Sadao Watanabe, Eliane Elias, Mike Stern, Miroslav Vitous, Jan Garbarek, John Scofield, John Martyn, and Ralph Towner.

Peter Erskine is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy (Michigan, USA) and studied percussion with George Gaber at Indiana University.

He conducts workshops for drummers worldwide and is the author of highly successful books and instructional DVDs. He teaches at the University of Southern California and is a consultant for jazz drumming at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He won 7 first places in the ‘Modern Drummer Reader’ poll in the Mainstream Jazz Drummer category, and received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.