RICK LATHAM BIOGRAPHY

RICK LATHAM is known as one of the music industry’s most in demand studio and touring drummers today, an exciting solo artist, acclaimed composer, globally renowned author and drumming guru.  At just 25 years of age, it was the success of his ground breaking drum text, ADVANCED FUNK STUDIES, that launched him into the international percussion spotlight, but is has been his expertise as a versatile performer that has made him one of contemporary drummings' most respected players.  Originally from Columbia, South Carolina and now living in Los Angeles, Rick is currently the drummer with Grammy Award winning artist JUICE NEWTON as well as the founder and driving force of his own L.A. All-Star jazz “super-group”  RICK LATHAM AND THE GROOVE DOCTORS
Rick was a featured member of THE EDGAR WINTER BAND  for nearly a decade with hundreds of stellar performances, including a very special appearance at the 1999 Montreux Jazz Festival.  While living in Dallas, before moving to LA, Latham was also a member of R&B bass legend CHUCK RAINEY’S band - "Rainey Man." and also performed with such greats as bluesman  B. B. KING during this time.

Rick has enjoyed the opportunity of performing with a long list of other leading figures, including rockers, RICK DERRINGER,  NEAL SCHON and PAT TRAVERS, as well as jazz greats HOWARD ROBERTS, BILL WATROUS, JERRY COKER, DAVID SAMUELS and PAUL SMITH, to name a few.  His versatility has also been highlighted on the theme for television's "9 to 5" series, "Fame," the QUINCY JONES produced soundtrack, “Fast Forward” and more recently the DVD release of "Gone in 60 Seconds”,  "Daredevil"  and “Spiderman”.  As a composer, his music has been featured in network television, feature films and product jingles.
 

Shortly after relocating to Los Angeles, he also released his second successful book CONTEMPORARY DRUM SET TECHNIQUES and soon afterwards the instructional videos that parallel these works.  2005 brought the release of his highly anticipated 25th ANNIVERSARY DVD, which also became an immediate best seller. Rick has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe and Asia and is frequently invited as a featured performer to leading jazz festivals, drum festivals and percussion related events around the world.
In a recent feature interview, MODERN DRUMMER  Magazine refers to Latham as “a man who many consider to be one of the best clinicians on the planet”.  The magazine also names his ADVANCED FUNK STUDIES among “The 25 Greatest Drum Books Ever Published.".

Rick endorses DW DRUMS, EVANS DRUM HEADS, K&K DRUM TRIGGERS, PRO-MARK DRUM STICKS, ISTANBUL (MEHMET) CYMBALS, PINTECH ELECTRONICS,  REALFEEL PRACTICE PADS, and SENNHEISER MICROPHONES.  His PRO-MARK  Autograph Series drumstick "THE RICK LATHAM GROOVE STICK 717" and 
"THE RICK LATHAM CRYSTAL BALL" clear resin bass drum beater are both best sellers and are  available in music stores and drum shops  worldwide. A trend setter for many years, "RICK LATHAM'S GROOVE TIME" live drum loop and sampling CD, (one of the first to be released) in 1995, is  now a standard among recording professionals and Hip-Hop producers.

Rick started drumming at the age of twelve.  Initially self-taught, his ears led him to such powerful rhythm and blues influences of Southern Gospel music and the hit Motown and Atlantic label recording artists of the day.  Playing club dates during his high school years throughout the Carolinas and Eastern seaboard, Rick attended to the technical aspects of drumming, but his primary focus was always playing the "groove." Later, while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Percussion Performance at East Carolina
University, he expanded his rhythmic and percussion related vocabulary, studying snare drum, mallets and timpani with Harold Jones. He was even the winner of the school’s Young Artist Concerto Award, performing the Milhaud Concerto for Batterie and Petit Orchestra with the school’s orchestra.  In 1977, Latham was granted a prestigious teaching assistantship at North Texas State University, where he taught mallets and snare, while pursuing his Masters Degree in Percussion with Robert Schietroma and Ron Fink, and studying drumset with Jim Hall.  While at NTSU, Rick was also a featured soloist, performing with this school’s Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and the legendary North Texas Lab Bands, as well as instructing the NTSU drum line.  Since relocating to L.A. his career has remained at a whirlwind pace with only more great things on the horizon for this  “Doctor of Groove”.
In addition to maintaining a full playing and touring schedule, doing sessions, presenting master-classes and private teaching, Rick also enjoys producing, composing and writing and fuels his passion for music and performing arts education through his involvement in the evolution of new music and media technology.

For more information please visit his web site at http://www.ricklatham.com.

BLAKE TYSON BIOGRAPHY

Blake Tyson is Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Central Arkansas. He received the DMA degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. The faculty of the Eastman School also awarded him the prestigious Performer's Certificate. He received the Master of Music degree from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Alabama. His teachers include John Beck, Michael Burritt, Larry Mathis, and Peggy Benkeser. He has also studied derabucca with Halim El-Dabh and has devoted intensive study to El-Dabh's unique notational system for the instrument.

Blake has given recitals as both a solo and chamber artist throughout the United States. He has performed and taught in Ecuador as a guest of the National Conservatory, and performed in Egypt at the Ministry of Culture in Cairo and as a soloist with the Orchestra de Biblioteca Alexandrina. He recently traveled to South Africa for a masterclass and performance in Johannesburg, and to China for performances at the Beijing Central Conservatory. He has performed as a percussionist with many orchestras throughout the United States, and is currently principal percussionist with the Conway Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Northwest Percussion Festival, the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, and at numerous Days of Percussion throughout the country. His compositions Anubis and Vertical River are published by Keyboard Percussion Publications.

Visit: www.blaketyson.com