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Paul Wertico - Bio:
Hailed by the press as "One of the most versatile and musical drummers in music today", Paul was born on January 5, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. At age 12, he learned how to read music and play drums and percussion instruments in grade school. At age 14, he got his first drum set and taught himself how to play it. By age 15, he was already playing professionally with various rock and jazz bands. By the early '70s, he was a fixture of the Chicago music scene, playing and recording with a multitude of diverse artists including legendary jazz saxophonist Joe Daley, ethnomusicologist Paul Berliner, blues-rock vocalist/guitarist Ellen McIlwaine, rock singer Adrian Smith, folk singer Terry Callier, ECM-influenced guitarist Ross Traut, the fusion-based Simon & Bard Group, and a whole list of others. Always active in various realms of creative and avant-garde music, he most notably started two cooperative bands -- Earwax Control with multi-instrumentalist Jeff Czech and keyboardist Gordon James, and Spontaneous Composition with multi-reed player Rich Corpolongo and bassist Doug Lofstrom.
In 1983, Paul joined the Pat Metheny Group; a long and fruitful collaboration continued through 18 years, resulting in eight recordings, several gold records and the winning of seven Grammy Awards and numerous magazine polls. In addition to the PMG recordings, Paul played on the Group's videos: More Travels, We Live Here - Live In Japan 1995 and Imaginary Day, as well as on Pat Metheny's Grammy winning solo 1992 project Secret Story and Pat Metheny's Secret Story - LIVE video. Paul also played with Pat on the score and soundtrack for the movie The Falcon And The Snowman, which included the international hit song This Is Not America featuring David Bowie, and on the score to the movie Twice In A Lifetime. In February 1986, Paul joined Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden and Ernie Watts in Argentina for a week of critically acclaimed engagements, and the summer of 1988 saw a revival of Metheny's Special Quartet with performances in California, Japan, and Hong Kong. During most of 1993, Paul and his wife, Barbara Unger-Wertico, toured together as members of Pat's Secret Story band, performing in 18 countries around the world. Paul left the PMG in February of 2001.
Paul has played with countless jazz, rock, funk, R&B, blues, gospel, fusion and ethnic musicians. He's currently a member of both the Larry Coryell Trio and the Jeff Berlin Trio. He was also a member of the legendary Eastern European rock band, SBB, for seven years (2000-2007), as well as the Polish all-star jazz-fusion group, The Colors. When Paul is not touring, he divides his time between studio work, producing, session playing and leading his own groups. 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." In 2004, Paul was honored as one "Chicagoans of the Year" by the Chicago Tribune.
Paul is also extremely active in the educational field. Besides teaching privately for almost four decades, he currently serves on the percussion faculty of Northwestern University and the jazz faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He's written many educational articles for magazines such as Downbeat, Modern Drummer, DRUM!, Drums & Drumming and Drum Tracks, as well as for Musician.com, and he serves on the advisory board of Modern Drummer. He also performs many drum clinics and master classes at music festivals, universities, high schools and music stores in the U.S. and around the world. In addition, he's released two instructional videos, Fine Tuning Your Performance and Paul Wertico's Drum Philosophy.
Paul's discography as both leader, co-leader and sideman is lengthy and impressive. Paul's debut CD as a leader, entitled The Yin And The Yout, received great critical acclaim including 4 stars in Downbeat magazine. It featured a legion of guest stars including saxophonists Dave Liebman and Bob Mintzer, bassists Dave Holland and Victor Bailey, pianist Richie Bierach, percussionist Mino Cinelu, harmonica ace and former Flecktone Howard Levy and guitarist Pat Metheny (billed mysteriously as Yu Gno Who). Paul's 1998 CD is a live recording of the Paul Wertico Trio entitled Live In Warsaw! It received 4 1/2 stars in Downbeat and features guitarist John Moulder and bassist Eric Hochberg. This same trio's 2000 release was a studio recording entitled Don't Be Scared Anymore. It received spectacular reviews such as: "This album is like the soundtrack to the world's coolest vacation" and "Jazz-rock in the truest sense". Paul's 2004 CD, StereoNucleosis, also won rave reviews such as: "Wertico reinvents the language of progressive jazz for a new generation on this outing" and "Wertico's StereoNucleosis, easily the finest jazz-rock outing of 2004." LA Weekly magazine even wrote: Don't Be Scared Anymore and the new StereoNucleosis are stunning examples of the electronic, rhythmic and intellectual directions jazz could be going." The Paul Wertico Trio's latest CD release, entitled Another Side, has been described as "A brilliant collaborative effort between three uniquely talented musicians." and is on the audiophile Naim Label.
He's also released eight co-led recording projects including the self-titled LP, Earwax Control, and a live EWC CD entitled 2 LIVE, as well as the self-titled LP, Spontaneous Composition. Paul then went on to form and record with the highly democratic Union Trio with pianist Laurence Hobgood and bassist Brian Torff, releasing two CDs, Union and State Of The Union. In 1996, he released a drum duo recording with fellow percussionist Gregg Bendian entitled BANG! that was to lay the groundwork for the 1997 recording The Sign Of 4 featuring Wertico, Bendian, Metheny and Derek Bailey. His latest co-op recording, entitled Ampersand (with multi-instrumentalist Brian Peters), has been reviewed as "Simply a musical masterpiece." by Drummerszone.com.
Paul has played drums and percussion on countless recordings, including Paul Winter's 1990 Grammy nominated release, Earth: Voices Of A Planet, and he's played on, as well as produced, a number of CDs for various artists, including four of vocalist Kurt Elling's Grammy nominated releases: Close Your Eyes, The Messenger, This Time It's Love and Man In The Air. Paul also served three terms on the Board of Governors of the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
In addition to winning numerous awards as a member of the Pat Metheny Group, Paul was also voted "Fusion Drummer Of The Year" in DRUM! magazine's Reader's Poll and he 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, Belgium's Belgo Beat, Poland's PerQsja and South America's Bateristas al Sur. He's been one of the featured clinicians at several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions as well as the 1997 Modern Drummer Drum Festival. He's also the inventor of TUBZ, made by Pro-Mark.
A world-class, all-around drummer, it is ultimately in the context of his own renegade groups that Paul has revealed the most about his musicality and philosophy of drumming while also pushing the envelope on risk-taking. On the subject of the Paul Wertico Trio, Wertico says, "In the past, some people have said that my band's music made them think of the Tony Williams Lifetime, while other people have said it reminded them of King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jimi Hendrix...all artists that I really love. However, over the years we've really expanded and refined our sound so that we now not only roar, but whisper as well. The band has many more sides, emotions, grooves and textures than we did and it's all very exciting and fulfilling for both us and our audience!"
Visit Paul's website at: www.paulwertico.com
To listen to Paul's music, go to www.paulwertico.com/listen
To view Paul's videos, go to www.paulwertico.com/multimedia
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