CHRIS INFUSINO
Chris Infusino was born in Addison, Illinois on November 10, 1982. He started playing drums at age 12 on his dad’s old Tama Imperialstar drum set and his father was his first teacher. His influences include: Everybody and Everything.
“I used to watch my dad play when I was really young, and when I would watch him play, I saw how much fun he had and that’s really when I wanted to play,” Chris says. “It was because I wanted to have fun.”
At age 16, Chris began formal drum instruction with Tom Tedrahn, a great drummer and teacher. The summer between his freshman and sophomore years of high school, he attended Eastern Illinois University for the annual drum camp headed by Johnny Lee Lang. During that period, he studied with drumming and percussion greats: Lewis Nash, Louie Bellson, Steve Houghton, Ndugu Chancler, Taku Hirano, and Ruben Alvarez.
Chris remembers the drum camp as the first time he ever felt star struck.
“My dad came down to the drum camp with me and Ndugu was walking around and chilling, and my dad said, ‘Chris, do you know who that is? That’s the guy who played for George Duke and Miles Davis!’” he says.
In his senior year, Chris auditioned for the Illinois Musicians Educator Association Jazz Band and was selected to be the drummer for the band that was conducted by DePaul University Professor of Jazz Bob Lark.
In August of 2001, Chris received a music scholarship to Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts. During his time at Roosevelt, he focused his studies on studio work, including work with the Cotton Club Jazz Sextet and numerous trio performances in the city of Chicago. He was also the drummer for one of Rob Parton and Scott Mason’s Jazz Orchestras. Chris studied privately with drumming greats Phil Gratteau, Bob Rummage, Carl Allen, and Paul Wertico.
Chris says that jazz is the most challenging type of music.
“It’s a very liberating type of music, but it’s extremely hard to get that liberated. It’s understanding everything that can be written down and everything that can’t be written down,” he says.
