Kevin Dorn - Drums

Kevin was born in 1975 in New York City. He took up drumming at the age of 14 after being inspired by Gene Krupa. He has played with many of the top names in classic jazz, including Dan Barrett, Bob Haggart, Bob Wilber, Johnny Varro, Eddy Davis, Mark Shane, Ed Polcer, Terry Waldo, Tom Artin and John Gill. He has also performed with the Loren Schoenberg Big Band, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, The Flying Neutrinos, and David Ostwald's Gully Low Jazz Band.

Since 1996, Kevin has performed with Dan Levinson's Roof Garden Jass Band, a repertory group that performs the music of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and other groups of the same period. The Roof Garden Jass Band has appeared at numerous festivals throughout the country and has accompanied singer Leon Redbone. In 1999 they performed with Dick Hyman as part of the Jazz in July series at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. The group has recorded three CDs, two of them for the Stomp Off record label. From 1996-1999, Kevin was also a member of Nick Palumbo's Flipped Fedora Orchestra. This popular high-energy swing-style group appeared in March 1997 on Fox TV's national morning show After Breakfast. The group was also featured on Fox's Good Day New York and PBS' City Arts program, and can be seen in actor Joe Pesci's music video. In 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002, Kevin performed in Meadville, Pennsylvania for the Allegheny Jazz Society in a group led by Dan Levinson and featuring Randy Sandke, Dan Barrett, Mark Shane and Vince Giordano. Kevin also performed for the Allegheny Jazz Society at Jazz at Chautauqua in 1999 and 2001. Among the musicians Kevin played with were Scott Hamilton, Marty Grosz, Joe Wilder, Dick Hyman, Ken Peplowski, Rebecca Kilgore and Dan Barrett.

Kevin has also performed with the popular vocal group The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, traveling with them to Kansas and Alaska. Other performances of note in Kevin's career include the 1997 JVC Jazz Festival with Warren Vaché Jr. and Howard Alden; Jon-Erik Kellso's 2000 Tribute to Bix Beiderbecke concert; a tour of Japan with the New York Ragtime Orchestra; a re-creation of Benny Goodman's historic 1938 Carnegie Hall concert with band leader Stan Rubin; the New Jersey Jazz Society's Pee Wee Russell Memorial Stomp in 1998, 2000, and 2001; and several engagements with Banu Gibson and The New Orleans Hot Jazz.

Kevin studied at the Manhattan School of Music and has also studied privately with several great jazz drummers such as Ed Shaughnessy, Jake Hanna, Tony DeNicola, and John Von Ohlen. Kevin's biggest influences include Gene Krupa, Dave Tough, Sid Catlett, George Wettling, Cliff Leeman, Buzzy Drootin, and Sam Woodyard.

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