Buster Birch, freelance drummer and percussionist:
Hello and welcome to my web site. Finally, a chance to have everything all together in one place. Being a self-employed freelance musician I find myself working in a wide variety of musical spheres. When performing this can vary between jazz groups, orchestras, covers bands, cabaret and musical theatre. When teaching this can range from one-to-one lessons to percussion groups and larger scale workshops. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like further information about anything contained in this website.
Playing professionally since his teens, Buster is a very experienced musician in many fields of music. He has a degree in music from the University of London and a post-graduate diploma in jazz performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (where he was able to meet and play with Branford Marsalis, Randy Brecker, Billy Cobham and Dave Liebman, not to mention most of London's top jazz musicians who tutor at the college). Whilst living in New York, he also studied at the Drummers Collective in Manhattan and privately with Jim Chapin and Joe Morello (of The Dave Brubeck Quartet).
He has travelled extensively as a musician and has now played in over 30 countries with various jazz ensembles, orchestras and shows.
His experience in playing jazz is considerable and includes big-bands to small groups. He regularly plays with many of the up-coming "young lions" on the London jazz scene, but particularly enjoys working with the "more mature" generation of British jazz veterans, who he finds very inspiring.
His experience of orchestral playing is quite substantial for someone who has chosen not to specialise in that field and includes playing for The Sarum Chamber Orchestra and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He also has extensive experience in musical theatre, having played for countless shows in various theatre pits in the uk and abroad. These include West Side Story, Chess, South Pacific, A Chorus Line, Annie, Five Guys Named Mo, La Cage Aux Folles, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Miserables, Chicago, The King and I, My Fair Lady, Oliver and many more! ...
Numan Elyer web site one of the best darbuka, doumbek players.
Numan is a multi-percussionist of Turkish origin and is now permanently based in London. His main instrument is the darbuka, although he is proficient in many others. He is a full-time musician who prides himself on his professionalism.
Numan is one of the pioneers of the new ‘all-finger’ style of darbuka playing and is fast gaining a reputation for himself in the UK. His range, ability and ear for all rhythms enables Numan to play many musical styles, not only those from the Middle East. As well as performing, he is a session player and teaches.
Instruments Played:
- Darbuka
- Frame Drum (def)
- Bongos
- Hand Cymbals
- Tambourine
- Davul
- Ghatam
- Djembe
Luc Bergeron, originally from Lewiston, Maine, comes from a family of musicians and singers on both his mother's and father's sides, but is the only one in the family who had any interest in drumming. After much begging and pleading he was finally given a used drum set when he turned 12. His first formal lessons were with regionally well-known drummer and teacher Dick Demers.
Luc was a founding member of the rock band "Symmetry" while still in high school, which in 1986 recorded a demo that snagged national management (Fred Lewis - ex-mgr for "The Cars"), received radio airplay in Maine and Massachusetts, and generated major record label interest. The band played extensively through New England. After he left Symmetry in 1988, he spent a while wondering what he was going to do with his life, and decided to attend the University of Southern Maine as an English major during the fall semester of 1989. When he saw master drummer Steve Smith (Journey, Vital Information, sessions artist) in the spring of 1990 at a concert at the University of Maine in Augusta, it moved him to get serious about music, and so attended UMA's nationally known Jazz and Contemporary Music program ...
The Luis Conte Official Web Site.
Grammy-winner Luis Conte is an acknowledged master of percussion. His celebrated career includes touring and/or recording work with some of the greatest names in contemporary music, including Madonna, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Santana (Supernatural album), Jackson Browne, Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, James Taylor, Shakira, Ozzy Osborne, Queen Latifah and Cuban legends Arturo Sandoval and Cachao. He can also be heard on the scores and/or soundtracks to such box office smashes as Mission Impossible, Rain Man, Waiting To Exhale, Coming To America, Drumline, Out of Time, The Italian Job, Oceans 12, Sideways, Disney’s animated Tarzan, Brother Bear and countless others ...