World-remowned drummer performs Jewish jazz and Klezmer at JW3
Ollie Usiskin has a long and illustrious career playing drums with musicians worldwide
If you ask north London jazz drummer Ollie Usiskin who he has worked with, be prepared to carve out some time for the answer, for the list is a long as it is impressive and every time he mentions a name he has a story to tell. Suffice to say, it includes John Etheridge of iconic 70s band Soft Machine, Australian guitarist Carl Orr who toured with Billy Cobham for many years, guitarist Mike Stern who toured with the famous trumpet player Miles Davis and actor Sir Christopher Lee – more on him later. Then there is Ollie’s producer Jimmy Haslip, one of the most famous electric bassists in Los Angeles.
Today The Ollie Usiskin Quartet comprises Ollie himself, Dirk Vetter (saxophone), Aled Thomas (keyboard) and Rob Statham (bass) and next month they are coming to JW3 for a concert of Jewish jazz and Klezmer.
Ollie grew up in a house where music was always playing, especially on Friday nights after Shabbat dinner. “My dad used to play lots of different music like Earth, Wind and Fire, jazz albums like Miles Davis, and stuff featuring drummer Art Blakey and Dave Brubeck,” he says
As a child Ollie attended cheder at Alyth Synagogue and recalls stumbling in to a room where there was a rehearsal for a music performance in the synagogue. “That was one of the first times I’d seen someone play the drums and I found it really intriguing,” he says.
He father had a friend in the music business who had a drum kit in his house. “My dad took me there many times and I allowed me to sit down at the drum kit, so I started to get an interest in it. I was always banging stuff around – grabbing spoons and making noise.”
At JFS (then based in Camden) he started drum lessons, which continued until he left after GCSEs and went to live with his grandparents in Netanya. He then lived on a kibbutz before going to study in the US where he ended up at the Berklee College of Music but only for one term “because it was, very costly! Next stop was the Drummers Collective in New York, where I studied with various teachers and that was great as it opened up the New York jazz scene. I got to see a lot of really great bands play, and got to know a lot of musicians.”
Back in London, he ventured into professional work with musicians he knew, and his career built from there. Aside from jazz, he plays rock and heavy metal music. Many years ago a guitarist friend Danny said: “How would you like to do a gig with Dracula?” He explained that his guitar teacher was working with Sir Christopher Lee, who played Dracula, and he had a performance coming up at the O2. Ollie says: “Sir Christopher needed a backing band, and quite amazingly, Danny organised a rehearsal in the building where we lived. Can you imagine – one of the most famous actors in the world came to my home and we did a rehearsal with him and his manager!”
Ollie did the performance and became friends with Christopher Lee’s manager, who got him involved in several recording projects, including Charlamagne: The Omens of Death, the heavy metal album that Sir Christopher released in 2013, two years before he died.
Just after lockdown Ollie released a single under his own name called Bob’s Bop, which he worked on together with US sax player Bob Franceschini. Other collabs include a tribute with Mike Stern to late guitarist Allan Holdsworth, who was from Yorkshire, and a tribute band to the blues guitarist Jeff Beck called Experience Beck who are performing at the Cambridge Rock Festival in July.
The Ollie Usiskin Quartet is at JW3 on 1 July at 7.30 pm. Click here for tickets
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