Kevin van den Elzen is an in demand jazz-drummer and bandleader originally from the Netherlands who works and resides in Los Angeles. Kevin has worked with musicians such as John Clayton, Dick Oatts, Bob Mintzer, Larry Carlton, the New York Voices, Bob Sheppard, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Clayton, Anthony Wilson, Nick Mancini, Kim Richmond, Hubert Laws, John Beasley, Jasper Blom, Mary Stallings, Paquito d’Rivera, Josh Nelson, Jesse van Ruller, Ben van Gelder, Ack van Rooyen, Fay Claassen, Benjamin Herman and many others. He worked with big bands such as the Bill Holman Big Band, Clare Fischer Big Band, Dave Slonaker Big Band, Mike Barone Big Band, Teryn Re Big Band, Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Paradox Jazz Orchestra (NL) and others. He started playing the drums at the age of 3 and went on to take lessons at age 5. He played in local orchestra’s, jazz bands and big bands in his home town of Oss, The Netherlands. He started studying at age 17 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and studied with Martijn Vink, Marcel Serierse, Lucas van Merwijk and Gerhard Jeltes. Next to these teachers, he had lessons with John Riley, Obed Calvaire and Willie Jones III. He took part in numerous big band projects such as: the Festival Youth Jazz Orchestra feat. Ntjam Rosie, Jazz Focus Big Band, Concert Big Band feat. John Clayton etc. Kevin graduated in June 2014 from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with excellent results and went to do his master studies at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California in 2017. He studied with Peter Erskine, Roy McCurdy, Ndugu Chancler and Aaron Serfaty. Other teachers were Russell Ferrante, Kathleen Grace and Bob Mintze and he has had private lessons with Jeff Hamilton and Joe LaBarbera. He was fortunate to be awarded with 4 scholarships from the Netherlands (Van den Ende Foundation, Prins Bernard Culturefund, Heijkonijn Foundation and VSB Fund) to study at USC and was on a full scholarship through a teaching assistantship position in his 2nd year of is graduate studies. He graduated in 2017 with departmental honors. Kevin started a new musical project in May 2020 with pianist Josh Nelson called the West Coast Jazz Hour. The WCJH is a online FB and Youtube show where West Coast musicians are interviewed who were a part or related to the scene of the 50’s and 60’s. This show turned into a live performance project with music from this era performed by a trio, quintet or 18 piece big band. Some of the members of the WCJH are Chuck Berghofer, Larry Koonse, Alan Kaplan, Sal Lozano, Alex Iles, Ron Stout and others. The late Gene “Cip” Cipriano and Carl Saunders are former members. Kevin is currently on the jazz faculty of the Orange County High School for The Arts and on faculty of the Burbank High School.
Kevin endorses Canopus Drums.
“First off, I have never used any other drumheads, besides Remo heads. My dad had an old Sonor drum set from the sixties that had a coated ambassador on the snare and black dots on the toms. I started playing on that particular set when I was 3 years old, so the Remo brand was always there. My private teachers from the Netherlands are all Remo endorsers. There were always Remo heads on the drums in the classrooms, so I pretty much don't know better than Remo. I really feel that these heads are making my sound. I'm very specific with my needs and have always found that Remo heads serve my sound in the best way. Remo heads always have the best consistency for me. I know exactly what to expect when I have to get a new drumhead which are usually Fiberskynss or Coated Ambassadors.” -Kevin van den Elzen
