Sperie Karas

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The neutrality of this article or section is disputed. A reason is given on the discussion page . You can get more information here .

Sperie Karas (born on June 25, 1930 as Speros Peter Karaboyas in Lorain, Ohio, USA) is an American jazz drummer , composer, lyricist and university teacher.

Sperie Karas was born the fourth of four children to Greek immigrants in Lorain, Ohio. His father, Pete Karas (* approx. 1900 near Thebes, Greece as Penos Karaboias, † 1983 in Ashland, Ohio) worked as a steel worker at that time.

Career

When the family traveled back to Greece for a longer stay in 1939, the Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. The family then traveled back to the United States that same year. During the multi-day crossing with the MS Normandie from Le Havre, France, Karas was so strongly influenced by the drummer of the dance band on board that he received his first drum lessons a short time later at Ashland High School. From about 1943/44 he received weekly private lessons from Charles Wilcoxon in his music store in Cleveland, Ohio.

Speros Karas Big Band, undated (approx. 1948/49)

As early as 1941 he founded the Speros Karas Big Band in the rooms above his father's restaurant in Ashland, Ohio, with which he achieved his first national successes in the state of Ohio. Dick Wooley was one of the band members.

Karas studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City from 1949 to 1954 . In 1952, while still a student, he already received a record deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). As a band leader, he led an experimental jazz band consisting of a jazz trio plus three woodwinds and a string quartet. Performances have taken the band to Birdland and Carnegie Hall, among others . The ensemble played as the opening act for Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis and Bud Powell , among others , before joining the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra from 1953 to 1954 . In May 1957 Eddie Sauter engaged him in the SWF dance orchestra. Sauter was followed by Rolf-Hans Müller in autumn 1958 . Karas stayed with the SWF until 1961. This was followed by several years of freelance work before he played in the WDR Big Band Cologne from 1967 to 1995 under the direction of Werner Müller and later Jerry van Rooyen .

With Dave Hildinger he recorded with the Karas-Hildinger Orchestra . He can also be heard on albums with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Hans Koller and Stan Getz . In the piece Sperie's Drums written by Hans Hammerschmid , which he recorded with the SWF dance orchestra, he was particularly prominent. At the regional level he also worked for the Meisterswingers of Les Searle .

Karas has been teaching as a lecturer at the Folkwang University of the Arts since the 1970s , initially as a minor subject for drum set. He later became a senior lecturer in big band drums and sight reading and led jazz ensembles in the college's newly established jazz department. Since 1982 he has also been a lecturer at the Bundeswehr Training Music Corps . Karas has published numerous educational works, including the textbook Jazz Drumming in Combo & Big Band (Schott, 1988) and Bass Drum Groove Control for Drumset (Alfred, 2011).

Publications as an author

• Jazz drum set solos. 7 Contemporary Pieces , Hal Leonard, 2003, ISBN 978-0-634-06549-1
• Rock drum set solos. 8 Contemporary Pieces , Hal Leonard, 2004, ISBN 978-0-634-07840-8
• Jazz Drumming in Big Band & Combo , Hal Leonard, 2006, ISBN 978-0-634-08918-3
• Rudimental Rock-Jazz Etudes for Snare Drum , Ludwig, 2010
• Bass Drum Groove Control for Drumset , Alfred, 2011, ISBN 978-3-933-13688-6
• Snare drum solos. Seven Pieces for Concert Performance , Hal Leonard, 2012, ISBN 978-0-634-06550-7
• 50 Syncopated Snare Drum Solos , Hal Leonard, 2014, ISBN 978-1-480-34441-9
• Takes Two. Suite for Two Drumsets , HoneyRock

Lexical entries

• Jürgen Wölfer : Jazz in Germany. The encyclopedia. All musicians and record companies from 1920 until today. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-274-4 .

Web links

• Brief portrait (Folkwang)
• Sperie Karas at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Spirie Karas honored