Greg Germann has been touring worldwide, playing the drums for various touring productions for the past 15 years. Some of these national tours included Broadway shows like “Wicked,” “Grease” and “Finding Neverland” and even spent a year traveling with the Big Apple Circus. Over his career, he has performed with artists such as Ben Vereen, Sir Roland Hanna, Antonio Hart, Clifton Davis, John Davidson, Jimmy Heath, Jeb Patton, and many others. He became one of the most respected and consistent performers.
Growing up in Deer Park, Long Island, he studied with Bob Leto, who used to make him sit-in at the local jazz club Sonny’s Place often as a teenager. During his high school years, he attended the Manhattan School of music Prep division, where he had invaluable experience playing in orchestras and learning more about the classical repertoire. He attended Queen's College, where he studied classical percussion with Michael Lipsey and took the initiative to study jazz with Clarence Penn, Alvester Garnett, Carl Allen, and Tommy Igoe.
He has been composing film scores for the past ten years. In 2014, He won a Telly award for “Use of Music” for the “Invaders Web series.” That path to film scoring started when Greg started playing with singer-songwriters in New York City in the early 2000s. Soon after working on various projects, he realized that film scoring was just the next logical step. He would often be involved with the creative process by having to decipher what groove is the best way to help keep a listener interested in a song while still letting the music breathe.
Back in 2015, after coming back to New York City after touring with “Wicked” the beginnings of the debut record “Tales of Time” were conceived. That idea came to fruition on November 1, 2020, with 11 of his original compositions being recorded.
The concept of the album operates on a few levels. Time is the most critical aspect of a drummer’s playing and many of the songs incorporate different time signatures, and each song tells a story. This record features Donny Mccaslin ( tenor sax), Luis Perdomo ( piano), Yasushi Nakamura ( bass), and Chelsea Forgenie ( vocals) and is being produced by his mentor and teacher Clarence Penn. ‘Tales Of Time’ conveys that he is more than just a sideman who can play a part in a Broadway pit and a bandleader and solo artist.
For more:
https://www.greggermannmusic.com
Clayton Craddock hosts the Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast and Newsletter. He has held the drum chair in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill and Ain’t Too Proud.
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