Birth name John Bernard Riley Role Drummer · johnriley.org Instruments drums and percussion | Years active 1968 – present Name John Riley Albums Beyond Bop Drumming | |
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Born June 11, 1954 (age 70) ( 1954-06-11 ) Occupation(s) Musician, Music Educator, Clinician Similar People Joe Morello, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orc, Jim Chapin, Dick Oatts, Jim McNeely | ||
Education University of North Texas | ||
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.
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Early education
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.
Riley graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in 1971 and enrolled at the University of North Texas.
Sicola has since retired and is now is a Deacon at Our Lady of the Mount Roman Catholic Church in Warren, New Jersey.
College
Riley studied music at the University of North Texas College of Music, where he was introduced to a larger world of music and percussion. While there, he played, toured, and recorded Lab 76 with the One O'Clock Lab Band. Lab 76 was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band." Jazz drummer Paul Guerrero had been one of his influential teachers at North Texas.
New York
Riley moved to New York City in September 1976 and in 1978 became a member of Woody Herman Band. Following that experience, John began freelancing with a wide spectrum of world-class musicians including Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci, Bob Berg, and many others. Riley had been subbing for Mel Lewis in the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. When Lewis died in 1990, the orchestra decided to continue as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Riley became its permanent drummer, a chair he has held for twenty-seven years.