Jimmy Macbride has been playing drums since the age of three. He has been invited to sit in with such noted artists as Claire Daly, Ray Vega, Bob Dorough and Harold Mabern at such renowned venues as the Iridium, Sweet Rhythm, and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York City. Jimmy is one of two drummers in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, which will perform at the 2008 Monterey Jazz Festival and the 2008 North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam. He will also perform at the JVC Jazz Festival, New York as guest drummer with the Greater Hartford Academy Jazz Emsemble. Jimmy received Outstanding Soloist of the Year in the 2008 and 2006 Down Beat Magazine's Student Music Awards. He also was awarded Downbeat’s Jazz Instrumental Soloist Junior High School Co-Winner in both 2003 and 2004 and was featured in Modern Drummer Magazine’s On The Move column. The summer of 2006, Jimmy attended the Berklee College of Music’s Summer Performance Institute, having been invited with a full scholarship and received scholarships to return in both 2007 and 2008. In addition, Jimmy will attend both the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony and the Vail Jazz Workshop with full scholarships in July/August of 2008. He has also attended the Skidmore Jazz Institute, having received a scholarship to do so. In addition, the Percussive Arts Society awarded him the 2003 Larrie Londin Memorial Scholarship for assistance with his music studies, and the William Ludwig Scholarship to attend the 2003 PAS International Convention in Louisville. Two of Jimmy's compositions, Circuit and Joe's Lament,received Honorable Mention from the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Awards and in 2007, his composition, Tenure, was a winner from ASCAP. He was acknowledged at the Jazz Wall Event at Jazz at Lincoln Center in June of 2007. Jimmy also received an award from the CT Music Educators Association for two of his original jazz compositions and his song, Joe’s Lament, was a semi-finalist in the 2005 ISC Songwriting Competition. His big band arrangement of Joe's Lament was a semi-finalist in the 2007 ISC Competition.
Jimmy will be a senior at Hall High School in West Hartford and is the drummer for the Concert Jazz Band. The band toured Europe in 2006 and 2008.
Since third grade, Jimmy has been performing with a group called Jimmy and the Hasbeens. This group performs throughout the greater Hartford area at senior citizen homes, and the like. All proceeds earned from these performances have been donated to Jimmy’s former elementary school’s instrumental music fund. To date, the group has earned over $5,000 for the Whiting Lane School, which was able to purchase a drum set, along with other needed instruments and equipment. The group, now know as The Court of St. James, continues to perform and raise money for both the Whiting Lane School and Bristow Middle School in West Hartford. In addition, Jimmy serves as a volunteer on the student task force of West Hartford’s Gifts of Music, a foundation that raises money for the town’s youth who are unable to afford musical instruments or private lessons.
Some of Jimmy's recent performances include the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in Hartford’s Bushnell Park, and the JVC Jazz Festival in New York. Jimmy also recently performed with John Mastroianni at the Silvermine Tavern in Norwalk, CT. In November, 2007, Jimmy was the headliner at the beautiful Trinity-on-Main church in New Britain, CT with Jimmy Greene.
Currently, Jimmy studies drums privately with Tom Melito and piano, composition and theory with Earl MacDonald. He is a proud endorser of Grover SilverFox Drumsticks.
Jimmy will be a senior at Hall High School in West Hartford and is the drummer for the Concert Jazz Band. The band toured Europe in 2006 and 2008.
Since third grade, Jimmy has been performing with a group called Jimmy and the Hasbeens. This group performs throughout the greater Hartford area at senior citizen homes, and the like. All proceeds earned from these performances have been donated to Jimmy’s former elementary school’s instrumental music fund. To date, the group has earned over $5,000 for the Whiting Lane School, which was able to purchase a drum set, along with other needed instruments and equipment. The group, now know as The Court of St. James, continues to perform and raise money for both the Whiting Lane School and Bristow Middle School in West Hartford. In addition, Jimmy serves as a volunteer on the student task force of West Hartford’s Gifts of Music, a foundation that raises money for the town’s youth who are unable to afford musical instruments or private lessons.
Some of Jimmy's recent performances include the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in Hartford’s Bushnell Park, and the JVC Jazz Festival in New York. Jimmy also recently performed with John Mastroianni at the Silvermine Tavern in Norwalk, CT. In November, 2007, Jimmy was the headliner at the beautiful Trinity-on-Main church in New Britain, CT with Jimmy Greene.
Currently, Jimmy studies drums privately with Tom Melito and piano, composition and theory with Earl MacDonald. He is a proud endorser of Grover SilverFox Drumsticks.