Graham Lear
Graham has played drums professionally since 1968. He has toured and/or recorded with Gino Vannelli, Santana, Carlos Santana (solo), Allanah Myles, REO Speedwagon, Saga, Paul Anka, Tom Grant, T.V./ Film composers Henry Mancini (Ghost Dad); Domenic Troiano (Night Heat); Jimmy Dale (Pianist/arranger Boss Brass); David Foster (Canada Foundation benefit), Mexican jazz/fusion group Sacbe and recorded jingles for Nike, Molsen and Avia.
His recording credits include Gist of the Gemini, Powerful People, Storm at Sunup, Yonder Tree and Slow Love (GinoVannelli); Moonflower, Inner Secrets, Marathon, Zebop, Shango and Viva (Santana); Second Decade (REO Speedwagon); Instinct (Tom Grant); Swing of Delight, Havana Moon and Blues for Salvador (Carlos Santana). Live concerts include Cal Jam 2; US Festival; Moscow Walk for Peace and Live Aid. Graham has performed with Paul Anka and symphony in Cincinnati, Washington and Atlanta. Also recently with Mexican jazz ensemble Sacbe for the Latin Cultural Festival at Berklee College of Music in Boston. His television and video performances include two performances on Saturday Night Live; Soul Train; P.B.S. Sound Stage; Kennedy Center Concert of the Americas, Viva Santana (C.B.S. video) REO Speedwagon ( Vina Del Mar Festival - Chile), and Paul Anka- Night of a Lifetime (P.B.S.). His sampling and loop CD, Latin Rock Drumscapes featuring Orestes Vilato on perc., released by Northstar prod., received a 4.5 (out of five) rating in the Dec.98 issue of Electronic Musician. Also, the drum solo "Head, Hands and Feet" from Santana's Moonflower CD and the track "Where Am I Going?" from Gino Vannelli's Storm At Sunup CD were transcribed for Modern Drummer issues. Other print articles include two cover features in the German publications Drums and Percussion (Jan/84) and Sticks (April/90). Graham was first interviewed for Modern Drummer magazine in July '82, and most recently in the Feb.99 issue.
Importantly, Graham was honored when the track 'Storm At Sunup', from Vannelli’s CD of the same name, was covered by drumming legend Buddy Rich. Realising the importance of education to young musicians, Graham maintains a private teaching schedule in Portland,OR . He has performed as a clinician in St.Louis; Tampa; Toronto; Frankfurt; Portland OR and Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, in conjunction with the companies he currently endorses: DW Drums; Zildjian Cymbals; Calato/Regal Tip Sticks; LP Perc; Remo Heads; and Studio Kans headphones. Whirled Jazz, led by Tom Bergeron and Keller Coker, will release their new CD entitled ‘String Theory’ in late ’05. Another CD, ‘Clovis,’ featuring bassist Glen Moore of ‘Oregon’, will be out in June ’05. Graham handles the drum duties on both projects in a variety of settings. Graham is currently touring internationally with Paul Anka, as well as teaching, recording and performing in the Portland, Oregon, area with many local artists including Patrick Lamb Band, Whirled Jazz, Randy Porter, Gary Small Band, Johnny Martin, Sambrasil, Ramsey Embick, Kita Montgomery, Andre Kitaev, Bobby Torres, Latin Persuasion, Rich Cooper big band and others.
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