A student of drumming for over 20 years, Micah has performed with artists representing a rich cross-section of musical traditions - jazz luminaries Red Rodney, David Baker and James Moody, MTV favorites Oh My God, traditional Brazilian, Puerto Rican, Ugandan, Ghanaian, and Native American ensembles, the rockabilly circus music of The Kehoe Nation, and bass clarinet “quartetists" Edmund Welles.

Born to hippies outside of Cincinnati, Micah built his first drum set at age five from a collection of Tupperware bowls and pan lids. A musician's son, he was exposed to instruments and artists of all kinds, but immediately gravitated toward the drums. At 12 he joined the school jazz band, played his first paying gig at 14, and started teaching fellow students two years later. He studied drum set with Shawn Pelton and Dylan Wissing, and trained two summers with Ed Soph at the Jamie Aebersold Jazz Camp in Louisville. As part of an experimental public school curriculum, he spent his last semester of high school studying royal Ugandan court music and the amadinda xylophone from ethnomusicologist Kay Stonefelt.

Micah attended Indiana University and furthered his studies with Kenny Aronoff and David Baker.  As a young drummer he was drawn to jazz and improvised music, which lead to performances with David Baker, Todd Coolman, Pookie Johnson, Dave Liebman, James Moody, and Red Rodney, as well as with his own groups. While still in college, he took a teaching position at a local music store, providing an early opportunity to formulate and express ideas about music.

In 1996 Micah left Indiana to travel the world by sailing ship, performing jazz and cabaret music in much of Asia and the South Pacific, Alaska, the Caribbean, and South America. He made landfall a year later in Chicago, where he immersed himself in the rich funk, soul and jazz traditions that still survive there - Family Lifted, Von Freeman, Oh My God. He continued studying drum set with Michael Raynor and Kenwood Dennard and in 2000, he began to investigate North Indian classical music and the tabla with his guruji, Kalyan Pathak.

Following his sixth extra long Chicago-style winter, the warm air and creative spirit of California blew in, and in 2004, Micah packed up his drums and left for the West Coast. He now makes his home in Alameda, where he continues to teach and perform. Micah teaches at the Alameda School of Music, Montessori Family School in El Cerrito and the Mulberry School in Berkeley. His current projects include the Terrence Brewer Quintet, The Bedlam Royals, The Matt Small Chamber Ensemble, Project Pimento, Motive and Water Babies.

p e r f o r m a n c e  c r e d i t s

Jamey Aebersold (Jazz)
Amadinda Ensemble (Ugandan)
Apartment (Experimental)
David Baker (Jazz)
Ballet Counterpointe (Ballet/Dance)
Bateria Lucha (Samba Bateria)
The Bedlam Royals (Cabaret)
Blackwell (Afro Funk)
Blast (Pop)
Boliver Shagnasty (Brass Band)
Bottomless 4 (Jazz)
Terrence Brewer (Jazz)
Caribe Breeze (Salsa, Afro-Cuban)
Margaret Cromwell (Modern Dance)
Crushing Spiral (Fusion, Funk)
Todd Coolman (Jazz)
Rob Dixon (Jazz)
Dr. Mongrol (Blues)
Escalay (Middle Eastern Fusion)
F-Word (Fusion)
Falcon Quest (Fusion)
Family Lifted (Funk)
Ben Finley (Funk)
Flowtilla (Funk)
Von Freeman (Jazz)
Free Radicals (Fusion)
Grant Gardner (Jazz)
Kofi Gbolonyo (West-African)
Global Funk Council (Funk)
Gojogo (World)
Grupo Samba Rio (Samba Bateria)
Gyrogenics (Jazz)
Justin Hellman (Jazz)
James Hill (Jazz)
Hipmotize (Funk)
I.A.S.J.B (Big Band)
Jacques Ibula (Congolese Pop)
Bill Kokus Orchestra (Big Band)
Jazz Fables (Jazz)
Pookie Johnson (Jazz)
Eric Krasno (Funk)
The Kehoe Nation (Rock)
Kasey Knudsen (Jazz)
L'Avventura (Rock)
Dave Liebman (Jazz)
Stevie Lizard (Blues)
LMP (Pop)
Magnesium (Rock)
Matt Small Chamber Ensemble (Chamber)
Matt Moorish (Jazz)
Mitch Marcus (Jazz)
Melodious Funk (Funk)
moodfood (Fusion)
James Moody (Jazz)
The Motive (Boogaloo)
Len Paterson Trio (Funk)
Niagara (Rock)
P.C.S.B (Cabaret)
Project Pimento (Theremin)
Oh My God (Rock)
Red Bird Giving (Cherokee)
Earl J. Rivard (Rock)
Red Rodney (Jazz)
Angeline Saris (Jazz)
Eric Sniderman (Jazz)
Dominic Spera (Jazz)
Stanley (Fusion)
Josh Suhrheinrich (Jazz)
Vacuum Tree Head (Experimental)
Vince Wallace (Jazz)
Women Sing (Choral)

d i s c o g r a p h y