ANDY SCHUMM
Drums

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ANDY SCHUMM - Although he is mostly known as a fine cornet player, Andy joined the band as a percussionist after failing a Basie-Moten style coup on Mike Bezin. Andy is willing to do whatever it takes to play the good stuff.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Andy began taking piano lessons when he was 6 years old. He dabbled as a trumpet player in grade school and high school until he found his true passion for jazz while studying with Mike Plog, a well-known modern jazz trumpeter. At the University of Illinois, Andy studied trumpet and cornet with Tito Carrillo and began arranging under the tutelage of program director Chip McNeill.

His fate as a '20s musician was sealed one night after hearing Bix Beiderbecke's transcendent recording of "At the Jazz Band Ball" on an authentic Victor horn machine. Andy started sitting in with Dixieland bands and, ironically, discovered that he could get more work as a '20s musician than a modern player - yeah, man! While he is heavily influenced by Bix, Andy draws inspiration from a variety of musicians including Red Nichols, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Jabbo Smith and Tommy Dorsey (especially in his covert recordings as a trumpeter!). He also enjoys listening to Johnny Dodds and Herb Morand.

Andy is currently a full-time musician traveling the world and touring with various groups. One such group is the Archipelago Project which is a non-profit educational outreach group advocating musical arts for young students and their teachers through performance, residency and consultation.

Never content to play just one instrument, he has taken various jobs on piano, trombone, bass sax, clarinet, banjo, baritone and drums. He also plays a mean melodica and a fractured frumpet (it exists; look it up). In his spare time, Andy enjoys arranging new charts and collecting junk, including old instruments and 78 r.p.m. records. On occasion, Andy will play cornet with the WEJB, and Mike Bezin will man the drums…to the consternation of the entire back line.

During his brief moments outside of the world of music, he also enjoys camping and kayaking in the key of Db. In addition he frequently revels in the humor of the Marx Brothers.

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