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One of the most versatile and musical drummers in music today, Paul Wertico
became a member of the Pat Metheny Group in 1983. During that time he appeared
on ten CD's and three videos with Pat, and has toured the world many times. Also
during that time, he won seven Grammy Awards, numerous magazine polls, and
received several gold records. Paul left the PMG in February of
2001.
When Paul is not touring, he divides his time between studio work,
producing, session playing, and leading his own groups. Paul has played with
such jazz greats as Eddie Harris, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Sam Rivers, Bob
Mintzer, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, Jay McShann,
Herbie Mann, Randy Brecker, Jerry Goodman, Ramsey Lewis and many others. He's
currently a member of both the Larry Coryell Trio and the legendary Eastern
European rock band, SBB. In reviews, his playing has been compared to that of an
"Impressionist painter", while Paul has also been described as "an inspired
madman" and "a restless innovator."
Paul is also very active in the
educational field. Besides teaching privately for over 30 years, he currently
serves on the percussion faculty of Northwestern University, the Chicago College
of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and the Bloom School of Jazz. He's
written educational articles for magazines such as Modern Drummer, DRUM!, Drums
& Drumming, and Drum Tracks, as well as for Musician.com. He also performs
drum clinics and master classes at universities, high schools, and music stores
in the U.S. and around the world. Some past clinics have been performed at
Drummers Collective in NYC, Percussion Institute of Technology (PIT) in LA,
North Texas State University and the University of Miami, as well as Musicians
Institute (MI) in England, Drummers Institute in Germany, Università della
Musica in Italy, Escuela de Música de Buenos Aires in Argentina, and the Rimon
School of Jazz in Israel. He's also performed at the International Association
of Jazz Educators' International Conferences and the Annual Mid-West
International Band and Orchestra Clinic. In addition, he's released two
instructional videos, "Fine Tuning Your Performance" and "Paul Wertico's Drum
Philosophy" (formerly "Sound Work Of Drumming").
He's also released seven
co-op recording projects: a self-titled LP, "Earwax Control", and a live EWC CD
entitled "2 LIVE";
a self-titled LP, "Spontaneous Composition";
a
drums/percussion duo CD (with Gregg Bendian) entitled "BANG!";
a double
guitars/double drums 3-CD set (with Derek Bailey, Pat Metheny, and Gregg
Bendian) entitled "The Sign Of 4";
two piano/bass/drums trio CD's (with Laurence Hobgood & Brian Torff)
entitled "Union" and "State Of The Union".
Paul's debut CD as a leader,
entitled "The Yin And The Yout", received great critical acclaim including 4
stars in Downbeat magazine. Paul's 1998 CD is a live recording of the Paul
Wertico Trio and is entitled "Live In Warsaw!" It received 4 1/2 stars in
Downbeat, and features guitarist John Moulder and bassist Eric Hochberg. This
trio's 2000 release was a studio recording entitled "Don't Be Scared Anymore"
that received reviews such as: "This album is like the soundtrack to the world's
coolest vacation" by All About Jazz and "Jazz-rock in the truest sense" by the
All Music Guide. Paul's latest CD, "StereoNucleosis" is on A440 Music Group and
was released on April 27, 2004.
Paul played drums on Paul Winter's 1990
Grammy nominated release, "Earth: Voices Of A Planet", and he's also played on
and produced a number of CD's for various artists including vocalist Kurt
Elling's 1995 Grammy nominated release, "Close Your Eyes", Elling's 1997 Grammy
nominated release, "The Messenger", Elling's 1998 Grammy nominated release,
"This Time It's Love" and Elling's 2003 Grammy nominated release, "Man In The
Air". Paul also serves on the Board of Governors of the Chicago Chapter of NARAS
(The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences).
In addition to winning numerous awards as a member of the PMG, Paul was
also voted "Fusion Drummer Of The Year" in DRUM! magazine's Reader's Poll and
he's placed in the "Top Five in the Electric Jazz Category" in Modern Drummer
magazine's Reader's Polls. Paul's been featured on the covers of Drum Tracks
magazine and Modern Drummer magazine, as well as on international drum
publications such as Italy's Percussioni and Belgium's Belgo Beat. He was also
one of the featured clinicians at the 1994, 1999 & 2002 Percussive Arts
Society International Conventions and the 1997 Modern Drummer Drum Festival. His
performances are included in videos of two of those events. Paul is also one of
the featured artists on Drum Workshop's videos, "The American Dream II" and "The
American Dream III". Paul also has his own "signature" drum sticks: the Paul
Wertico model - TX808W, as well as new "signature" products that he invented
called "Tubz" and "KidzTubz", all made by Pro-Mark.
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