# Peter Erskine

Peter Clark Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead.

## Early life and education

Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S. He began playing the drums at the age of four. He graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then studied percussion at Indiana University.

## Career

His professional music career started in 1972 when he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra. After four years with Kenton, he joined Maynard Ferguson for two years. In 1978, he joined Weather Report, joining Jaco Pastorius in the rhythm section. After four years and five albums with Weather Report and the Jaco Pastorius big band's Word of Mouth, he joined Steps Ahead.
In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records release Swingrass '83. He toured the US in 1992 with Chick Corea.
Erskine splits his time as a musician and a professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.
He was featured on Kate Bush's 2005 album Aerial, where Erskine teamed with bass player Eberhard Weber. Diana Krall, Eliane Elias, Queen Latifah and Linda Ronstadt, as well as Scottish and Finnish classical orchestras, have had Erskine perform as a featured musician.
In 2011, he appeared on stage at the Royal Opera House, London in the new opera Anna Nicole.

## Honors and awards

In 1992, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.

## Personal life

Erskine is married to Mutsuko Erskine. The two have two children, actress and writer Maya Erskine, and film editor and producer Taichi Erskine.

## Discography
### As leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Year released | Notes |
| 1982? | Peter Erskine | Contemporary | 1982 | |
| 1986? | Transition | Passport Jazz | 1987 | |
| 1988 | Motion Poet | Denon | 1988 | |
| 1989? | Aurora | Denon | 1989 | |
| 1991 | Sweet Soul | Novus | 1991 | |
| 1992 | You Never Know | ECM | 1993 | |
| 1993 | Time Being | ECM | 1994 | |
| 1995? | History of the Drum | Interworld | 1995 | |
| 1995 | As It Is | ECM | 1996 | |
| 1997? | As The Lounge Art Ensemble, Lava Jazz | Fuzzy Music | 1997 | |
| 1997 | Juni | ECM | 1999 | |
| 1999 | Live at Rocco | Fuzzy Music | 2000 | [2CD] live |
| 2001 | Side Man Blue | Fuzzy Music | 2016 | |
| 2010 | Joy Luck | Fuzzy Music | 2011 | |
| 2015 | Dr. Um | Fuzzy Music | 2016 | |
| 2016? | In Praise of Shadows | Fuzzy Music | 2016 | |
| 2016 | Second Opinion | Fuzzy Music | 2017 | |
| 2017 | Live In Italy | Abeat | 2018 | live in Occhiobello |
| 2018? | On Call | Fuzzy Music | 2018 | [2CD] |
Source:

### As co-leader

* 1985: Current Events with John Abercrombie, Marc Johnson (ECM, 1986)
* 1988: John Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter Erskine (ECM, 1989) – live
* 1991: StAR with Jan Garbarek, Miroslav Vitous (ECM, 1991)
* 1994: Traction Avant with Alessandro Galati, Palle Danielsson (Via Veneto, 1995)
* 1995?: From Kenton to Now with Richard Torres (Fuzzy Music, 1995)
* 1996: Jason Salad! with Alessandro Galati, John Patitucci, Bob Sheppard (Via Veneto, 1997)
* 1996: Turnage: Blood on the Floor with John Scofield, Martin Robertson, Peter Rundel (Decca, 1997)
* 1998: Live at the Baked Potato with Dirk K., Jörg Kleutgens (Kalle Fornia, 1998) – live
* 1998: The Hudson Project with John Abercrombie, Bob Mintzer, John Patitucci (Stretch, 2000) – live
* 2000: ELB with Nguyên Lê, Michel Benita (ACT, 2001)
* 2001: Badlands with Alan Pasqua, Dave Carpenter (Fuzzy Music, 2002)
* 2002?: Turnage: Fractured Lines with Evelyn Glennie, Christian Lindberg, Leonard Slatkin (Chandos, 2002)
* 2006: Worth the Wait with Tim Hagans (Fuzzy Music, 2008) – live
* 2008?: Dream Flight with ELB (ACT, 2008)
* 2009?: The Trio Live @ Charlie O's (Fuzzy Music, 2009) – live
* 2009: Scenes from a Dream with Chris Minh Doky, Larry Goldings (Red Dot Music, 2010)
* 2010?: The Interlochen Concert with Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2010) – live
* 2010?: Standards 2: Movie Music with Bob Mintzer, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Alan Pasqua (Fuzzy Music, 2011) – soundtrack
* 2014: Trio M/E/D with Palle Danielsson, Rita Marcotulli (Abeat, 2015) – live
* 2015: How Long Is Now? with Lars Danielsson, Iiro Rantala (ACT, 2016)
* 2019: 3 Nights in L.A. with George Garzone, Alan Pasqua and Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2019)[3CD] – live
* 2021: Live In Italy with Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2022) – live
Source:

### As a member

Steps Ahead
* Steps Ahead (Elektra/Musician, 1983)
* Modern Times (Elektra/Musician, 1984)
* Magnetic (Elektra, 1986)
* Holding Together (NYC, 2002)[2CD] – live rec. 1999

### As sideman
## Books

* Time Awareness
* The Erskine Method for Drumset
* My Book
* The Drum Perspective
* Drum Concepts and Techniques
* No Beethoven: An Autobiography and Chronicle of Weather Report

## DVD

* The Erskine Method for Drumset (Alfred Publishing Company)