Our Artists

Adam Nussbaum grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut and started to play drums at age 12 after studying piano for 5 years, also playing bass and saxophone as a teenager. He moved to New York City in 1975 to attend The Davis Center for Performing Arts at City College. While there he began working with Albert Dailey, Monty Waters, Joe Lee Wilson, Sheila Jordan and he played with Sonny Rollins in 1977 in Milwaukee. In 1978 he joined Dave Liebman’s quintet and did his first European tour with John Scofield.

Born in 1980 in the town of Augsburg, Germany, Benny was given with his first set of drums when just six years old and so began his drumming journey. Initially, Benny was self taught, playing along to records before he took his first lesson when 12 years old and he quickly progressed to playing in [...]

Breithaupt is considered one of the nation’s leaders in percussion education. He is Professor of Music and Department Chair of Music Business and Industry Studies at Capital University. Since 1978 he has developed one of the most recognized undergraduate percussion programs in the United States, producing students that are successful in performing, teaching and the music industry.

Arguably the greatest jazz drummer of all time, the legendary Buddy Rich exhibited his love for music through the dedication of his life to the art. His was a career that spanned seven decades, beginning when Rich was 18 months old and continuing until his death in 1987. Immensely gifted, Rich could play with remarkable speed and dexterity despite the fact that he never received a formal lesson and refused to practice outside of his performances.

A 1999 graduate with honors from the Drummer’s Collective, Chris Coleman won the 2001 National Drum Competition sponsored by Guitar Center, which hosted over 30,000 competing musicians. From GC’s high profile launching pad, Chris has become an in-demand sessions artist, having toured extensively with Creflo Dollar Ministries and Israel Houghton, and can be heard on many gospel recordings.

Born in Oakland, California, David grew up just East of San Francisco. Through his fascination for drums, he began playing music at age 10. His parents bought him his first drumset in high school and the rest, as they say, is history.

Having had an interest in music from an early age Derek came to first be a fan of music before heading headstrong into the world of being a musician. While capable of playing many instruments and styles, Derek is most widely known as a phenomenal drummer in the Death Metal community having performed with such bands as: Hate Eternal, Malevolent Creation, Nile, Divine Empire, Aurora Borealis and Council Of The Fallen.

Gregg started playing on his dad’s drums at about age 5. His dad was his first teacher …showing him various ideas on the drums set. He started taking private rudimental snare drum lessons at age 10 with a local teacher in Warren Michigan named Bob Yarborough. Bob also started Gregg on reading drum set music at age 11. He also started taking private trumpet lessons at the same age from Jim Ruffner.

Jason Bittner, started taking formal drum lessons at the age of ten years old, however he had been banging on pots, pans, and garbage cans since he was about five. A native of Albany, NY, he continued to take lessons and perform in his middle school and high school jazz and orchestra ensembles before heading off to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 1988.

Jeff Queen has marched in the snare lines of the Bluecoats, Velvet Knights, Santa Clara Vanguard, Blue Knights, and the University of North Texas. He was the D.C.I. Individual and Ensemble Snare Drum Champion in 1994 and 1995 as well as the P.A.S. Individual Snare Drum Champion in 1994 and 1995. Jeff is an original cast member of the Tony and Emmy award winning Broadway Show BLAST!, where he was a solo performer and battery instructor from 1999–2003.