John Bernard Riley
| John Riley | |
|---|---|
Photo by R. Andrew Lepley (August 2004)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Bernard Riley |
| Born |
June 11, 1954 Aberdeen, Maryland, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, educator |
| Instruments | Drums, percussion |
| Years active | 1968 – present |
| Associated acts |
One O'Clock Lab Band Woody Herman Mike Metheny Bob Mintzer Red Rodney John Scofield Miles Davis Vanguard Jazz Orchestra |
| Website | www |
John Bernard Riley (born June 11, 1954, Aberdeen, Maryland) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He has performed with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, Franck Amsallem, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci, and Bob Berg.
Riley began playing drums at age eight, after receiving a snare drum as a gift. In the biographies provided to the media, Riley acknowledges the early support of his parents, John and Mary Ann. While attending fourth grade in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Riley began studying percussion privately with Thomas Sicola, Jr. (b. Mar. 1944), who, at that time, was a recent graduate of the New York College of Music (bachelor of music) and a music teacher in the nearby Cranford Township Public Schools.
While studying with Sicola, Riley gained control of the snare drum through work on the rudiments ("beats of the day"), reading, and coordination — both in the classical and jazz idioms. Sicola trained John on a variety of traditional percussion instruments, including xylophone, timpani, and drum kit. At age twelve, Riley began playing in rock bands and heard his first jazz recordings: (i) the soundtrack to The Gene Krupa Story and (ii) Max Roach's Conversation. Two years later, he played his first professional gig, which he obtained through an audition played over the telephone. Riley began studying with Joe Morello in 1971 after meeting him at a drum symposium.
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Wikipedia