BIO

Sam McClurg is a drummer and percussionist living in La Cañada, California. He specializes in improvised music, but his global approach to drumming has resulted in him playing in a variety of disciplines ranging from small and large jazz ensembles to Indian and Middle Eastern Fusion bands to South American and Caribbean Jazz groups. He has toured on three continents, and he has a passion for cross-cultural music exchange.

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Sam has shared the stage with jazz luminaries
such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Brian Blade, Marquis Hill, Andre Hayward, Aaron Janik, Lupe Fiasco, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Sindhu Vasudevan (recording only), Reeshabh Purohit, and tabla virtuoso Ishaan Ghosh. He has also played at the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, the US Embassy in Beijing, in the house band at the Mad Monkfish in Boston, and at Sam First and General Lee’s in Los Angeles. Sam has a degree from the Berklee College of Music, where he studied at the Global Jazz Institute. He is a staff member in the Berklee College of Music Admissions Department, and he works out of his studio in La Canada as a freelance artist, educator, composer, and band leader. He was a former jazz drum set accompanist at MIT.