- Bruce Ditmas
Bruce Ditmas (b. December 12, 1946) is an American
jazz drummer and percussionist.Ditmas was born in
Atlantic City but grew up inMiami ; his father was a trumpeter in Miamibig band s. He studied withTony Crisetello and then withStan Kenton atIndiana University andMichigan State University in the early 1960s. After a stint withIra Sullivan (1962-64), he accompanied singers includingJudy Garland ,Barbara Streisand ,Della Reese ,Leslie Uggams , andSheila Jordan between 1964 and 1970. He moved toNew York City in 1966.In the 1970s Ditmas played with
Joe Newman (1971),Jazz Interactions Orchestra (1971),Gil Evans (1971-77),Enrico Rava (from 1971),Star Drive ,Atmospheres ,Future Shock (1972),New Wilderness Preservation Band (1972-73),Paul Bley ,Lee Konitz ,Pat Metheny ,Chet Baker (1974-75), andStan Getz (1975). Later in the 1970s he concentrated on solo performance, including experiments withdrum machine s. He returned to work with the Evans Orchestra from 1979 to 1985, and lived inItaly in 1986-87, where he played withDino Saluzzi , Rava,Rita Marcotulli , andPietro Tonolo . He played with his own trio from 1988. In the 1990s he played withPat Hall andKarl Berger among others.In 1990, Ditmas orchestrated the music to an
opera byPatricia Burgess , "The Dream of Four Directions". He also composed prolifically for film and television; among his credits is the film "Deathscape ".References
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Leonard Feather andIra Gitler , "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz". Oxford, 1999, p. 183.
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