Jack De Johnette

Jack DeJohnette
DeJohnette in 2006
Background information
Born	(1942-08-09) August 9, 1942 (age 75) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, new-age
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instruments	Drums, piano, percussion, melodica
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Milestone, Prestige, ECM, MCA, Blue Note, Columbia
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Charles Lloyd, Michael Brecker, McCoy Tyner, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Don Byron
Website	Official website

Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer.

An important figure of the fusion era of jazz, DeJohnette is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, given his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, Alice Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock and John Scofield. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2007.

DeJohnette was born in Chicago, Illinois. He began his musical career as a pianist, studying from age four and first playing professionally at age fourteen, but he would later switch focus to the drums, for which he is known. DeJohnette would later credit an uncle, Roy I. Wood Sr., as the person in his life who inspired him to play music. Wood was a Chicago disc jockey who would later become vice president of the National Network of Black Broadcasters.

DeJohnette began his musical career on piano, then adding drums and eventually focussing on the latter, playing R&B, hard bop, and avant-garde music in Chicago. He led his own groups in addition to playing with Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell and other eventual core members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (founded in 1965). He also occasionally performed with Sun Ra and his Arkestra (and later in New York as well). In the early 1960s, DeJohnette had the opportunity to sit in for three tunes with John Coltrane and his quintet, an early foray into playing with big name jazz musicians.