An image of Kevin teaching a workshop at the California Jazz Conservatory Berkeley, California
Drummer, arranger, and electronic music producer Kevin Coleman is an up and coming musician in the Bay Area. Coleman’s respect for the past, and optimism about the future of music combine to make a unique sound that is gathering attention in the Bay’s music scene.
Kevin is a graduate of the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. At the CJC Kevin studied Jazz drums, as well as the music theory and history of Jazz. This education has given Kevin a vast appreciation for the development of American music. This knowledge of history comes out in his drumming, as well as his electronic compositions.
What sets Kevin Coleman apart from other Jazz drummers coming out of the music school scene, is Kevin’s interest and optimism for the future of music and new technologies. Although Kevin spent his college tuition studying Jazz, a lot of his inspiration has come from other genres. Growing up Kevin was primarily a rock drummer, playing in local garage bands through out middle school and high school, which ranged from classic rock cover bands to hardcore punk rock. As Kevin came closer to entering college, a long with developing an interest in Jazz, he also became interested in genres including hip-hop, and Electronic Dance Music. Some of the wide range of artists that influence Kevin’s music include The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The John Coltrane Quartet, J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and Squarepusher. The effect that these artists have had on Kevin can be seen in his many projects that he is involved in.
The Knew Quartet, a modern Jazz Quartet that Kevin has been a part of since 2012. In the Knew Quartet Kevin brings out all these styles of music in his playing, weather he is taking a solo or accompanying one of the other instrumentalists during their solos you can hear the subtle tones of Punk rock, hip hop, and electronic music in the general context of Jazz. Some samples of Kevin’s unique mixture of drum styles can be heard at his website kcolemanmusic.com
Kevin Coleman also produces an electronic project, going under the alias DJ J.D Salinger. Kevin creates beats that take aspects of Jazz harmony and melody and blends it with electronic influenced drum grooves, and hip-hop influenced samples from various vinyl records. Current songs can be heard at soundcloud.com/djjdsalinger and more beats are being posted regularly.
Kevin best describes his unique approach to music and the inspiration behind it. “Jazz has been a big influence on my music, but more specifically the philosophy behind Jazz. The concept of improvisation, and never playing a song the same way twice is a concept I apply to all my music no matter what style I’m playing. The one criticism I have about what has become of Jazz is that many musicians are solely focused on the history of the music and never looking ahead at the future. That’s why I like to incorporate different flavors like computer generated sounds and rhythms into my playing. In my opinion Jazz not only recreates the music of the past, but it should also reflect the music and culture of the present.”
In the fall of 2013, Kevin toured across America with the Indie rock band, Couches. Currently, you can see Kevin playing with The modern jazz group "The Knew Quartet", organ trio NCG, and with the funk band The Optimystics, who are currently backing up the Marin county based rapper, Sol-Doc. Outside of music, Kevin enjoys hiking, skateboarding, surfing, and record collecting.
Kevin is available for recordings, live shows, collaborations and more. To inquire about drumming, purchasing beats or just to say hi, you can email him at kevincolemn.drum {at} gmail {.} com or just click here!