Personnel
Noah Au, Canfield, OH
Edward Butcher, Salem, OH
Zachary Connolly, Boardman, OH
Levi Curry, Wexford, PA
Jesse DeLorenzo, Wampum, PA
Anthony Gill, Vienna, OH
Joel Gillespie, East Liverpool, OH
Aaron Graneto, Canfield, OH
Sean Guerrieri, Struthers, OH
Andy Hacker, Hubbard, OH
Ryan Jones, Youngstown, OH
Evan McCreary, Poland, OH
Nathan Negro, Wooster, OH
Tracy Rusk, Brookfield, OH
Lennon Sackela, Canfield, OH
Tommy Starr, Pittsburgh, PA
Anthony Tresky, Pittsburgh, PA
John Guido Vitullo, Austintown, OH
About the Director
GLENN SCHAFT is Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Youngstown State University. He is the advisor/co-founder of the Youngstown Percussion Collective and an artist with Avedis Zildjian Co., Innovative Percussion Inc., Remo Inc., and a member of the Black Swamp Percussion Educators Network. Glenn earned the DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the MA from Eastern Illinois University, and the BM from Baldwin Wallace University. He pursued post doctoral studies in contemporary music and orchestral percussion at Cleveland State University, Afro-Cuban music in Havana, Cuba and world percussion at the Berklee School of Music World Percussion Festival. Glenn’s teachers include John Hollenbeck, John Riley, Tom Freer, Jay Burnham, Lewis Nash, Ted Piltzecker, Tom Siwe, Johnny Lee Lane, George Kiteley, Harold Damas, Linda Pimentel, and Ruben Alvarez. A member of the Percussive Arts Society, Glenn serves on the Drumset Committee and has appeared as performer, lecturer, and panelist at PAS international conventions.
Glenn’s career spans idioms such as classical, new music, world music, jazz, blues, rock, reggae, funk, Brazilian, West African, and Afro-Cuban. Glenn has recorded and served as executive producer with the Youngstown Percussion Collective, Dave Morgan, Ron Coulter, John Hollenbeck, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Scott Wyatt, Amanda Powell, Air Force Band of Mid-America, Youngstown State University Wind Ensemble, and myriad jingles.
His credits include conductors Giora Bernstein, Jeffery Siegel, Anton Coppola, Edwin London, Gunther Schuller, Paul Martin Zonn, Peter Schickele, aka P.D.Q. Bach ensembles such as Colorado Music Festival, Skaneateles (NY) Chamber Music Festival, "Artist In Residence" at Baldwin-Wallace University with BATTU contemporary/world percussion group, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Cleveland Ballet, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, Robert Page Singers, Akron Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Springfield (IL) Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, Duluth-Superior Symphony, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, Dance Theater of Harlem, Cleveland Dance Collective, and artists such as Paul Sperry, Julie Newell, Robert Weirich, Robert Van Sice, Peter Erskine, and Ben Toth.
Glenn drumset and world music credits include Ruben Alvarez, American Jazz Orchestra, Chuck Berry, Nick Brignola, Freddie Bryant, Ndugu Chancellor, Sarah Jane Cion, Stewart Copeland, Anthony Cox, 1940's Radio Hour Show-US Tour, Todd Coolman, Harold Danko, Paquito D’Rivera, Larry Elgart, Raul Esparza, John Fedchock, Five By Design, Reynaldo Gonzales, Taku Hirano, Laurence Hobgood, Engelbert Humperdink, Randy Johnston, Sean Jones, Mike Kocour, Alison Krauss, Victor Krauss, Ralph Lalama, Tony Leonardi, Robert Lockwood Jr., Bryan Lynch, Jim McNeely, Hank Marr, Phil Palombi, Ken Peplowski, Chita Rivera, Trichy Sankaran, Michael Spiro, Marvin Stamm, Chip Stephens, The Texas Tenors, Alan Vizzutti, Dan Wall, James Weidman, Michael Weiss, Mike Wofford, Women of the Phantom, Andrea Zonn, and Youngstown State University Faculty Jazz Group.
About the YSU Percussion Ensemble
Notable performances include the 2018 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Percussive Arts Society Ohio Chapter Days of Percussion at Capital University, Ohio Northern University, Youngstown State University, and Ohio Music Education Association Conferences in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. A central part of our mission involves collaborations with composers in the commissioning, premiering, and critically acclaimed recording of their works. Our 2005 release "Dark Wood" includes six premiere recordings and commissions. Our commission project with New York City-based percussionist/composer John Hollenbeck on his "Ziggurat" for five percussionists and four saxophonists, was premiered at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City, and is available on his 2008 release "Rainbow Jimmies." The Youngstown Percussion Collective's 2012 release "Forms Of Things Unknown" is a concert-length suite by YSU professor of jazz studies, bass, and composition, Dr. Dave Morgan. Our 2012 recording of Ron Coulter's "Cajon Trio" will appear on an upcoming 2019 Coulter CD release.
Ron Coulter (b. 1979)
Ron Coulter received his Bachelor’s degree and Master of Music Performance from the Youngstown State University Dana School of Music and is now the director of percussion studies at Casper College in Casper, WY. Jam Box was composed while Coulter was director of percussion at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL and is dedicated to his students Nathan Staley and Nathan Kingery.
J.B. Smith (b.1957)
Featured Performers: Anthony Gill, Joel Gillespie, Lennon Sackela, Tracy Rusk, Noah Au, Levi Curry
J.B. Smith received the B.M. in music education from Baylor University where he studied with Dr. Larry Vanlandingham, the M.M. in percussion performance from the University of Illinois with Tom Siwe, and the D.M.A. in percussion from the University of North Texas with Robert Schietroma. Smith is currently Director of Percussion Studies at Arizona State University. Slap Shift is based on Afro-Cuban folkloric drumming rhythms.
Samba! is a medley of several traditional Brazilian rhythms including “Baião” from the Northeastern, Bahia region and “Batucada” from southern Brazilian regions of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Glenn Schaft and the YSU Percussion Studio wish to thank Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Co., Remo Inc, Innovative Percussion Inc., and Black Swamp Percussion for their support.
