By Bruce Klauber
Among the dozens of celebrity photographs that line the walls of White House Subs, there are two that visitors might not recognize, unless they’re drummers or jazz fans. Drummers Harvey Mason and Peter Erskine are there for two reasons: They are both South Jersey natives, and they are both among the greatest percussionists in jazz history.
Mason was born in Atlantic City in 1947 and first began studying orchestral drumming when he was 7. While a student at Atlantic City High School, he joined the band and acquired his first set of drums when he was 14. He began listening carefully to jazz drummers like Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson, and brushed up on his classical technique by becoming a member of the American Legion Drum Corps in Atlantic City, and then Brigantine’s Seahorse Lancers Drum and Bugle Corps. He started playing jazz professionally with an organ trio at two famed Atlantic City jazz clubs: The Wonder Garden and The Jockey Club.
After graduating high school, Mason wanted to continue his music education, becoming a student at the iconic Berklee College of Music in Boston before transferring to the New England Conservatory of Music on a full scholarship. By this point there was not a form of music that the young Harvey Mason could not play perfectly.
His first big-name jazz jobs after graduation were with the legendary pianists Erroll Garner and George Shearing. These two artists were straight-ahead, traditional jazz performers. Though Mason played beautifully with them, his ability to play almost any style led to his association with funk groups led by Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock (Manson played on Hancock’s famed “Head Hunters” recording), Grover Washington, Jr., George Benson, and many more.
From this point on, although Mason still played live engagements from time to time, his biggest contributions were made in the recording studio with everyone from Nancy Wilson to Quincy Jones, and on dozens of film scores including “The Color Purple,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” and “The Wiz.”
Mason has won several Grammys, received an honorary doctorate in music from Berklee, and for those who keep track of such things, was the drummer in the orchestra that played for the Academy Awards telecast for 25 years.
Lest anyone dismiss Mason simply as a “studio guy,” his contributions through the years were more than enough to impress one of the hardest-to-impress drummers in history, Buddy Rich. Rich always appreciated the work of those he deemed to be original, and he often cited Mason as an artist who copied no one.
“There’s only a few young guys like Harvey Mason who have true identity,” Rich told jazz journalist Les Tompkins. Louie Bellson added, “I know he’s done his homework. He’s paid his dues.” Endorsements don’t get much better than that.
Peter Erskine, born in Somers Point in 1954, also started playing drums at a young age. He was 4 years old when he first picked up a pair of sticks and began studying with Atlantic City drummer and 500 Club bandleader Johnny Civera. A mere two years later he was good enough to impress none other than Gene Krupa.
In his widely-used drum instruction book, “Drum Essentials Volume 3,” Erskine told the story:
“When I was six years old, I finally had the opportunity to meet drumming legend Gene Krupa. He was appearing at the Steel Pier Ballroom in Atlantic City, and my oldest sister, Lois (who was 15 at the time), took me to see him play. When she saw where his dressing room was located, she took me in tow and knocked on his door. He was alone in the room and answered, kindly inviting us in. She did a short song and dance routine about how I was this terrific young drummer and Gene finally said, as he handed me a pair of drumsticks and pointed to a chair, ‘Show me what you can do, kid.’ I had never played on a wooden chair before, but I gulped, grabbed the stocks and fumbled something on the seat of the chair’s surface with Mr. Krupa’s drumsticks. When I looked up at him, Gene Krupa smiled, nodded his head and said, ‘Yeah, kid…yeah!’ Gene played a knockout set at that afternoon matinee, and gave this kid drummer a memorable moment he would never forget.”
By way of that auspicious beginning, it was clear that Peter Erskine was headed for big things.
After graduation from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, followed by more percussion study at Indiana University, the 18-year-old drummer joined the big band of the legendary Stan Kenton, who had by then reformed his big band, populated it with a group of enthusiastic youngsters, and took to the road again after a long layoff.
After four years with Kenton, he joined the band of another historic jazz figure, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, where he spent two years. After six years drumming in what were, by and large, traditional musical settings, Erskine joined one of the most important and influential groups in jazz, the genre-breaking Weather Report. His partner in Weather Report’s rhythm section was one of the most important bassists in jazz history, Jaco Pastorious.
After two years and five albums with Weather Report, he joined another ground-breaking group, jazz fusionists Steps Ahead. Though he has played on some film tracks and has recorded dozens of albums, Erskine’s forte is live performance. Just a sampling of the artists he’s backed through the years include Chick Corea, Diana Krall, Randy and Michael Brecker, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and even Seth MacFarlane.
He’s also run his own record label, was nominated for nine Grammys and has won two, has written 14 books, and serves on the faculties of the Thornton School of Music and the University of Southern California.
Peter Erskine and Harvey Mason are two incomparable musical giants. After all, you don’t get your picture on the wall of White House Subs for nothing.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
