This month’s Jazz Insights column focuses on my former USC student and teaching assistant Lauren Ellis. Her bio informs us that, “Lauren is a drummer, composer, and educator from Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand. There, she studied at the Te Kōki New Zealand School of Music under Lance Phillip and Roger Sellars (Ian Carr’s Nucleus, house drummer at Ronnie Scott’s.) Since graduating in 2011, Lauren Ellis has made her mark leading and playing for a number of well-known groups including: Richter City Rebels, Gold Nugget Pawn Shop, The Presidents of Funk, Hip Town Bangers, and Son Clave. Those names reflect the varied styles and her versatility as a player, running the gamut from New Orleans second-line to funk, to hard bop, and salsa. She has also been the drummer for New Zealand’s premier jazz orchestra, The Rodger Fox Big Band, for a number of years. They have performed with luminaries such […]

June 2022 Issue