Master of Many Styles – Yamaha Drum Artist Mark Colenburg

Yamaha Drum Artist Mark Colenburg is on a mission with the “Robert Glapser Experiment” to reconcile modern jazz with hip hop & R&B. Their last Blue Note recording, Black Radio, was a wildly successful step in that direction, winning Glasper and his Experiment band a Grammy for “Best R&B” Album.

With the bands second release - Black Radio 2- Drummer Mark Colenburg again shows his skills in a variety of musical genres, adding his unique groove & style to the band’s music.

Starting in church at the age of 6, Mark later on had the opportunity to study with some of the world’s greatest drummers such as: Lenny White, Joe Chambers, Michael Carvin, Carl Allen, Andrew Cyrille, Robby Ameen and Marvin Sparks. Being that Mark’s vocabulary of music had a wide range of genres, he has been blessed to perform, produce, and write music with the best of the best in various genres such as: Common, Layla Hathaway, Kenny Garrett, Chico Freeman, Amel Larrieux, Lizz Wright, Kurt Rosenwinkel, George Coleman, Rashaan Paterson, Lauryn Hill, Stefon Harris, Mos Def, Bilal, Q-tip, Macy Gray, Hilton Ruiz, Nona Hendricks, Greg Tardy, and Erykah Badu just to name a few.

In the following interview, Yamaha Drums gets behind the unique player, his career and current set-up for touring with the Robert Glasper Experiment.