Music Theory with Jesse P.

I have a bachelor's degree in music (percussion & composition) from the University of Minnesota, where I studied percussion with Fernando Meza, jazz drums with Phil Hey, and music composition with Judith Zaimont. I also studied for several years with the renowned jazz drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple). Besides playing as a sideman and band member in a variety of jazz and rock groups, I have led my own jazz ensemble in different iterations over the years, first in Minneapolis and now for the last eight years in NYC. The group has played at a variety of well-known NYC music venues, and in 2018 we released a debut album on the Chicago-based record label, Ears & Eyes Records. The album received positive reviews within the jazz world, and I am currently working on the music for a follow-up release. My music comes from a myriad of influences, including jazz iconoclasts such as Theolonius Monk and Ornette Coleman, twentieth-century composers like Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, and Conlon Nancarrow, and various indie rock and folk influences. I aim to create music that is melody-centric yet creatively off-kilter. My students can expect to be exposed to a wide variety of music through my instruction. Learning music is not limited only to mastering the necessary techniques for a given instrument. It must also involve discovering the many wonderful musical artists that have come before us. They have shown us what is possible on our instruments, and it is up to the next generation to take the music even one step further. With my students, I am for nothing less than to develop musical innovators who develop their own unique voice on the instrument.