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Jake Reed


About the Artist

Jake Reed is a Los Angeles-based drummer currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the USC Thornton School of Music. Jake works professionally as a live and studio musician in a variety of settings. He performs regularly with jazz guitarist Bruce Forman, grammy award-winning artist Bill Cunliffe, and legendary big band composer Bill Holman. He has also performed with Les McCann, Freda Payne, Bob Mintzer, Kristin Korb, The Vibrometers, and the Johnny Crawford Orchestra.

Born in Kansas City, Jake began playing drums at age ten and studied percussion and drum set with Dr. Dennis G. Rogers. He earned his undergraduate degree at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he studied with John Von Ohlen, Marc Wolfley, Rusty Burge, and Art Gore. In 2006, he was selected to the Henry Mancini Institute, where he studied and performed with Harold Jones, Peter Erskine, Vince Mendoza, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba.

Concurrent with his studies at USC, Jake teaches drum set proficiency courses for the beginning and intermediate level student. Since 2008, he has had the pleasure of working with and learning from Peter Erskine. In 2010 and 2011, Jake was the recipient of the Louie Bellson Scholarship at USC.

Outside of his studies and teaching at USC, Jake “rides” the drums in guitarist Bruce Forman’s Western Swing/Bebop group Cow Bop, who has performed at the Monterey Dixieland Festival, the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival, to name a few. In 2011, Cow Bop toured New Zealand and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Check out their latest release Too Hick for the Room, which is available on itunes and cdbaby.

We asked... Why Gretsch?

There is nothing more important to me than having the opportunity to play a great-sounding instrument that connects me to the music, sparks my imagination, and makes me feel right at home. For me, that instrument is Gretsch.

Influences

Peter Erskine, "Philly" Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Shelly Manne, Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Mel Lewis, Jeff Hamilton, John Von Ohlen, "Papa" Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Jeff Porcaro, Tony Williams and many more....

Advice

Work hard, pay attention, be a nice person, and above all – trust yourself.

GRETSCH 130th ANNIVERSARY

Gretsch Drums is proudly celebrating its 130th Anniversary with a series of Limited Edition American-made drum sets and snare drums. These drums will be released throughout the year and each will include a specially designed 130th Anniversary interior shell label and a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity. The labels and certificates will be numbered to indicate the production sequence of each drum.

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Catalina Maple

Carefully developed to produce tones that explode a balanced amount of warm low end frequencies

The Catalina Maple series starts with the Gretsch maple formula shell. We carefully developed the maple shell specification to produce tones that explode with attack and volume and project a balanced amount of warm, low-end frequencies. All Catalina Maple shells are 7-ply, 7.2mm.

The Catalina Maples are available in two configurations - a 6-piece shell pack set and a 5-piece shell pack set. Add-on drums are also available to allow for further drum set expansion.

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