Bruce Becker (born April 3, 1959) is an American drummer, author and drum teacher based in Los Angeles and has been teaching in the US and abroad since 1982. As a drummer with a variety of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, rock, and pop artists, Becker has recorded over twenty albums.

Educator

Studies

Becker was a longtime student of

Freddie Gruber Freddie Gruber (May 27, 1927 – October 11, 2011) was a jazz drummer and teacher to a number of professional drummers.Milkowski, Bill"Freddie Gruber: None of a Kind", ''JazzTimes'', November 2004. (accessed 13 December 2014) Gruber grew u ...

(whose other students included Vinnie Colaiuta, Neil Peart, and Steve Smith), Becker was on the inside track of Gruber's world and has developed and extended Gruber's ideas about drum technique, including "the balance and motion of the stick," and understanding the natural principles of the physical body's interaction with the drum set. Becker's yoga practice has also incorporated a "Mind-Body Connection" component into his teachings. Becker did 5 Master Classes with Gruber and would demonstrate the concepts while Gruber expounded on the details behind the technique involved. In addition to studying with Gruber, Becker studied with classical percussionist Karen Ervin at the Department of Music at California State University, Northridge, percussionist Jerry Steinholz, and jazz drummer and author

Jim Chapin James Forbes Chapin ( ) (July 23, 1919 – July 4, 2009) was an American jazz drummer and the author of books about jazz drumming. He was the author of several albums (later converted to CDs) on jazz drumming, as well as 2 CDs entitled ''Jim Cha ...

Students

Becker's technique insights have been sought after by students such as David Garibaldi,

Tris Imboden Gregory Tristan "Tris" Imboden (born July 27, 1951) is an American rock and jazz drummer. As a performer, he has been in studio sessions and on tour with some of the most notable and highest-selling musicians of all time. He was the drummer fo ...

, Jiro Yamaguchi (Ozomatli), Jake Slichter (

Semisonic Semisonic is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1995, consisting of Dan Wilson (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), John Munson (bass, keyboards, backing vocals, guitar), and Jacob Slichter (drums, percussion, keyboards, ba ...

Mark Schulman Mark Schulman (born September 4, 1961 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and corporate speaker. He performed with Cher as her tour drummer on her D2K Tour. Schulman is also a session drummer as well as a music producer, audio en ...

, and

Daniel Glass Daniel Glass is an American music industry executive whose output has included work with artists Billy Idol, Wilson Phillips, Sinéad O'Connor, Jon Secada, Warren Zevon, Blur, Huey Lewis and the News, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, Erykah Badu ...

and have been featured in DrumHead Magazine, Edge Magazine, and Drum Scene.

Instruction

Becker has conducted master classes at numerous music conservatories and schools in the USA, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Latvia, Moscow, Argentina, Uruguay, and Australia. In November 2017 Becker presented a Drumset Master Clinic at Percussive Art Society's International Convention (PASIC) – Indianapolis, IN. In 2018, Becker created a technique course, "Drum Technique Made Easy," for Drumeo and has been a regular contributor to Drum Channel's live-streamed lessons. His instructional DVD, ''Concepts and Philosophies'', was released in 2013 by Drum Channel and re-released by Hudson Music in 2020. He is also the author of ''Puzzles, Rhymes and Riddles: Solutions to Odd Time Phrasing'' (BruBecker, 2016, also released with Hudson Digital in 2018).

Performer

Becker, along with brother

David Becker David Becker (born 20 October 1961) is an American jazz guitarist and leader of the David Becker Tribune. He is also a graduate of the Musicians Institute. Career David and his brother Bruce (drummer) formed the David Becker Tribune and toured ...

, is the drummer and co-founder of the David Becker Tribune, which was signed to

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

jazz division in 1986. With the David Becker Tribune, he has recorded and co-produced ten albums and performed around the world for more than three decades. From 1992 to 1997 Becker lived in Antwerp and Vienna, where he performed with German jazz organist

Barbara Dennerlein Barbara Dennerlein (born 25 September 1964 in Munich) is a German jazz organist. She has achieved particular critical acclaim for using the bass pedalboard on a Hammond organ and for integrating synthesizer sounds onto the instrument, and was de ...

and Belgian blues artist Luke Walter Jr. Becker was part of an ensemble of great musicians on the 2015 release honoring Hungarian jazz guitarist, Attila Zoller, Message To Attila, playing with

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded nu ...

, Mike Stern, John Abercrombie and others. As a drummer, producer, and vocalist, Becker has worked with numerous Los Angeles-based pop, rock and jazz artists.

Discography

With David Becker Tribune

* 1986: ''

Long Peter Madsen ''Long Peter Madsen'' is the debut album by the American jazz group David Becker Tribune, released in 1986. Track listing Personnel * David Becker – guitar, keyboards * Jim Donica – double bass, bass guitar * Bruce Becker – drums, percu ...

'' (

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

) * 1988: ''

Siberian Express ''Siberian Express'' is a meteorological term in the United States describing the arrival of an extremely cold air mass of Siberian origins. It specifically refers to an origin in Siberia. The term is most commonly employed by the news media whe ...

'' (

) * 1990: ''

Third Time Around ''Third Time Around'' is an album by American jazz group David Becker Tribune, released in 1990. Background At AllMusic, critic Alex Henderson gave the album four out of five stars and complimented the band's accessible, melodic fusion of rock ...

'' (Bluemoon) * 1991: '' In Motion'' (

) * 1995: ''Nevsky Prospekt'' (Pinorrekk) * 2001: ''Germica'' (Silverline) * 2004: ''Where's Henning?'' (Acoustic Music) * 2005: ''The Color of Sound'' (Acoustic Music) * 2007: ''Leaving Argentina'' (Acoustic Music) * 2010: ''Batavia'' (Acoustic Music) * 2013: ''Distance Traveled'' (Acoustic Music) * 2018: ''Kiwi Dreams'' (Acoustic Music)

With others

* 2007: ''Mudpies'' – Yvonne Perea (Yvonne Perea) * 2009: ''Everything Changes'' – Yvonne Perea (Yvonne Perea) * 2010: ''Fingers in the Pie'' – Steve Craig (Steve Craig) * 2011: ''Grateful Moon'' – Sarah Morris (Waterbury Records) * 2014: ''10 West'' – Todd Wallin (Coastgs Records) * 2015: ''Personal Elegy'' – Chris Field ( Chris Field) * 2015: ''Message to Attila'' – Various Artists (

Enja Records Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Jap ...

) * 2016: ''Earth and Sky'' – Steve Craig (Steve Craig) * 2019: ''Lucky Me'' – Yvonne Perea (Yvonne Perea)

Books / DVDs

* ''Puzzles, Rhymes and Riddles: Solutions in Odd Time Phrasing'' (BruBecker, 2016 Hudson Digital, 2018) * ''Concepts and Philosophies: A Comprehensive Approach for the Development of Drum Technique'' (BruBecker, 2013, Drum Channel Digital, 2014, Hudson Music, 2020)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Bruce 1959 births Living people American rock drummers Jazz drummers Blues drummers