At the age of 8, Pittsburgh native Jon Zoog began playing drums after receiving a snare drum from his grandma. He studied through elementary and middle school. He became seriously motivated in high school and started playing in all of the school bands including Marching Band, Jazz Band and Orchestra. At this time, Jon was turned on to the music of Led Zeppelin, John Coltrane, Tower of Power, Ewf, and the Meters to name a few. By his senior year of high school, Jon started playing professionally in clubs in Pittsburgh at night, attending jam sessions and studying with local drum teachers. At the end of his senior year, Jon was awarded the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award and the John Philip Sousa Award for his superior talent.After high school, Jon began playing and touring locally and nationally with many different groups including Jazz B3 Great Gene Ludwig, Guitarist Tony Janfalone Sr, Horace Turner and Hill House Musicans, Singer/Songwriters Dave Pahanish and Clark Slater, Sleeping Giants, Calvin Pryce Steel Drums, Blues Guitarist Kevin Dunn and many more. Jon then began studying and hanging with Pittsburgh drummer Great Dave Throckmorton (Maynard Ferguson). Dave turned Jon onto many great styles of music including rock, jazz, fusion, funk, blues, r&b, hip-hop and latin. Dave is one of Jon's biggest influences in his career due to all of the knowledge and education he provided.In 2002, Jon left the Pittsburgh scene to start touring with several artists through out the U.S. At the end of 2002, Jon was given the opportunity to audition for one of the hardest drum-set postions with the Ringling Bro's Barnum and Bailey Circus. After being chosen for the spot, Jon went on a national world tour with Ringling playing most major arenas in the U.S., Canada and Mexico until 2004. In 2004, after playing over 400-600 shows a year and doing 11 month tours, Jon decided to move to Nashville to pursue more artist tours and studio/session work.While in Nashville, Jon has had the opportunity to record for and with Producers Tim Nitz (producing Brian McKnight, Busta Rhymes, BarryWhite), Jim Cooper (producing Building 429), Kevin Mckendrew (Delbert McClinton- musical director), and Chuck Ainlay (producing Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood). Jon has recently been touring and recording for Pop Singer/Songwriter Peter Moon (www.petermoon.com, www.myspace.com/petermoonband). The band has recently released their 3rd CD "Black Eyed Smiley," A DVD for City Sessions Productions and an upcoming live cd.Jon continues to record and perform for various other artists in Nashville and is available for Live Performance and/or Studio session recordings. Please contact him at [email protected]
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