Primary Instrument: Drums
A native of New Jersey, Evan Sherman began playing the drums at age five, inspired by Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. At eleven, Evan toured through France and Switzerland with the Sussex County Youth Orchestra and by age thirteen, he was immersed in jazz. He spent four years as the principle drummer with The Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra, playing every Sunday at the Jazz Standard and for various children’s charity events. During high school, Evan also attended prestigious summer programs including the Vail Jazz Workshop and Brubeck Jazz Colony. At age 15, he was already working with top musicians around the New York area.
Evan was selected for the GRAMMY Jazz Ensemble in 2010 and again for 2011, performing at events surrounding the GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles, California. Over two years, Evan recorded two CDs at Capitol Records, appeared on CBS’s “The Talk”, and performed with James Moody, Hubert Laws, Anthony Wilson, Kenny Burrell, and 2011 GRAMMY Award winner for Best New Artist, Esperanza Spalding.
Also in 2011, Evan was named a winner in jazz at YoungArts, the core program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts; and was named a candidate for Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
He has played at many venues in the New York area including Jazz Standard, Smalls, Smoke, Fat Cat, Cecil’s, Trumpets, Shanghai Jazz and more. He has performed with many of the world’s top jazz musicians including: Abraham Burton, Kenny Burrell, Sharel Cassity, Ed Cherry, Cyrus Chestnut, Bob Cranshaw, Deborah Davis, Michael Dease, Mike DiRubbo, Dezron Douglas, Ray Drummond, Greg Gisbert, Benny Green, Roy Hargrove, Vincent Herring, Hubert Laws, John Lee, Curtis Lundy, Russell Malone, Branford Marsalis, James Moody, Randy Napoleon, Ugonna Okegwo, Tim Ries, Wallace Roney, Helen Sung, Esperanza Spalding, Dave Stryker, Mark Whitfield, Anthony Wonsey, Steve Wilson, Yotam and many others.
When Evan was thirteen years old, guitarist Mark Whitfield introduced him to the great drummer, Neal Smith. Since their first lesson, Neal has continued to be a lifelong teacher and friend. Lewis Nash has also been an extremely inspirational mentor in Evan’s life. In 2009, Nash and bassist, John Clayton, chose Evan to attend the prestigious Vail Jazz Workshop, a program that only accepts two student drummers per year. Evan has also studied with Kenny Washington, Winard Harper, Willie Jones III, John Riley and Justin DiCioccio.
Recently, Evan has been performing regularly with his groups including a quintet featuring legendary bassist, Ray Drummond, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars and All-Star Big Band, renowned bassist, producer, and founder of Jazz Legacy Productions John Lee, the Michael Dease Big Band, Ken Fowser, and many others.
