- Norm Freeman (New York Philharmonic)
"Max keeps tempos consistent and fresh."
- Ray Brown (Stan Kenton)
Performance:
Max's strong background in western classical and improvised music has afforded him the opportunity to perform across the United States with a myriad of artists, including Grammy Award winner Norm Freeman of the New York Philharmonic and New York Pops, saxophonist Dan St. Marseilles, jazz legend Bobby Watson, Bay Area jazz heavyweights Ray Brown (trumpet), Stan Poplin, and Rob Lautz, among others.
His interest in world music has led to performances with the band AZA of Morocco, Felix Amirian, and bluegrass quartet, "The Eligible Bachelors."
He currently performs regularly with artists in and around Santa Cruz, CA.
Education:
Max has studied western percussion and drum set with some of the world's foremost players and educators. He studied drumset for three years with luminary George Marsh and has studied privately with Los Angeles-based jazz legend Ralph Penland. He studied rudimental snare drumming and classical percussion for four years with Glen Crosby of the Santa Clara Vanguard after beginning his percussive studies under the tutilage of Irving Davis.
Max has studied Indian tabla drumming with Bay Area local Jagjit Chadha as well as with master musician Deepak Ram. He has studied Middle Eastern percussion with various artists from the region, including Drior Sinai, Balinese Gamelan with Linda Burman-Hall and I Nyoman Wenten and Afro-Latin percussion with Glen Crosby (among others).
Max studied music formally at Cabrillo College and U.C. Santa Cruz with Ray Brown, Karlton Hester, Pascal Bokar Thiam, and Andrzej Zahorski. He completed his minor in Jazz Studies from U.C. Santa Cruz in June of 2005.
Teaching:
Max has taught percussion and drum set privately for 4 years.
He is currently affiliated with the Community Music School of Santa Cruz.
For more information on Max's teaching, click here.
Language:
In addition to English, Max has spoken and written abilities in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, and Spanish.
Other Education/Awards:
B.A. Philosophy from Cowell College, U.C. Santa Cruz (June 2005)
- Logic/Language/Analytic focus
- Honors in the major
- College Honors (Cowell College)
- Phi Beta Kappa