As an artist, Jon Arkin does not fall neatly into one tidy category, genre, or medium. Yet, his work can always be relied upon to exhibit certain qualities: uniqueness, balance, and inspiration. He is known & sought-after as a drummer, composer, and digital media wrangler.
Arkin’s latest projects incorporate his self-designed hybrid electro-acoustic setup, which blends a vast palate of digital textures with organic sound. Drawing upon his extensive background as a tinkerer, hacker, and an aficionado of all styles of music, his work brings a multitude of elements together within the contexts of traditional composition, spontaneous composition, and algorithmic indeterminacy. He can be seen & heard using this setup with the Schimscheimer Family Trio (with saxophonist Kasey Knudsen and keyboardist Michael Coleman), with clarinetist Ben Goldberg (as a duo, and in other Goldberg projects), as a solo performer, and in collaboration with various other artists.
In addition to leading his groups, Jon Arkin has performed around the U.S. and internationally with jazz greats such as Lee Konitz, Gene Perla, and Ira Sullivan, with singer-songwriters including Vusi Mahlasela, Stew, and Meklit Hadero, Afrobeat bands Albino and Soji Odukogbe, folk musicians Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and John Doe, a multitude of experimental/new music collaborators including Nathan Clevenger, Jordan Glenn, Cuong Vu, and MoeTar, as well as countless other musicians. Spanning three decades, his list of recording credits includes dozens of albums and guest appearances in a wide variety of genres, as he maintains an active recording schedule as a studio musician.
Jon Arkin has been a music educator since the early 1990s. In a private lesson format, he offers his students a unique perspective—that of a musician with extensive real-world experience, a teacher who is inspired to help his students find joy & evolution through music, and a member of one of the first generations to fully embrace the educational potential of technology.
Jon’s lessons are customized for the individual student. While he is well versed in the traditional methods of drum instruction, his specialty is in finding ways to adapt/invent materials that suit the individual’s learning style, and to encourage & inspire every kind of student, since a one-size-fits-all approach rarely leads to an inspired learning experience. To this end, he only accepts a limited number of students into his teaching schedule.
In addition to Jon’s long-running private teaching practice, he has taught classes, workshops, and lessons at many institutions around the U.S. and abroad:
California Jazz Conservatory (CA)
Jazzschool Community Music School (CA)
Stanford Jazz Workshop (CA)
University of California, Berkeley (CA)
Sonoma State University (CA)
Humboldt State University (CA)
Oakland Unified School District (CA)
Cambridge Public School District (MA)
High Sierra Music Festival (CA)
Vancouver Folk Festival (BC)
Morehead State University (KY)
Hochschule fur Musik (Hannover, Germany)
Hochschule fur Musik (Osnabruck, Germany)
Holmfirth High School (Holmfirth, UK)
various schools in New York, Chicago, Florida, Seattle
