Jeff Ballard

Drummer/percussionist Jeff Ballard was born in Southern California in 1963 and grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. He recalls lying in bed listening to the recorded music his father would play on weekends, including Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Sergio Mendez, and Milton Nascimento. Ballard was originally influenced by Joe Morello, Sonny Payne, Mel Lewis, Ed Thigpen, Elvin Jones, and Ed Blackwell. He graduated from high school in 1981 and enrolled at Cabrillo Community College in Santa Cruz, studying music theory with Sue Brown and Lyle Cruz, playing in...