Jake St. John is a drummer and composer whose "aesthetically ambitious" (Entertainment Weekly) music has been called "an altogether hypnotic listening experience" (NPR).
After attending the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music to study with Milwaukee jazz icon Dave Bayles, Jake received his B.A. with Honors in Musicology and Theory from Vassar College while studying with New York City percussionist and new-music specialist Frank Cassara and composer Harold Meltzer. (Jake was also the principal cellist of the Vassar College Orchestra for four years.) After college, Jake began his Masters studies in jazz performance at New York University, learning via playing with the likes of Chris Potter, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, and Jean-Michel Pilc, studying music theory with Anton Vishio, and taking drum lessons with Billy Drummond, Mark Guiliana, Ari Hoenig, and Tony Moreno.
Jake has recorded and toured internationally with multiple groups, including performances at venues as diverse as Irving Plaza and Lincoln Center in NYC, countless outdoor music festivals, every single venue in Austin (thanks SxSW), beach parties in Punta Cana, country clubs in Medellín, a fundraiser in the Canadian tundra, and multiple Italian monasteries including one on a remote island in the Venetian lagoon. He currently lives and works in the greater New York City area, recording and performing with a number of projects including Baby FuzZ, Chet Lam (林一峰), and Pink Flamingo Rhythm Revue.
Some other recording and performing projects: Quiet Friend, Tiff Ortiz, French Horn Rebellion, Pretty Sister, Ski Lodge, Madam West, Deidre & the Dark, Shapes in Calgary, Monica Lionheart, Violet Sands, Una Lux, Ashen Figure.
Jake is also a Bridge Arts Ensemble Teaching Artist and has played in the cello section of the String Orchestra of Brooklyn.