117 – Evan Pazner: Touring with Lee Fields, Being a Lifelong New Yorker, Studying at the New School

Evan Pazner is a native and life-long resident of New York City. For the last six years, he has been the touring drummer for Lee Fields & The Expressions, a truly old-school soul band. It’s not old school just because they got the right gear and the right sound, it’s old school because Lee Fields has been doing it for over four decades. Evan got into drums playing in bands with friends as a teenager, catching the tail end of a New York music scene in which some clubs allowed 15-year-olds to play there. After earning a liberal arts degree at NYU, he entered The New School for two years of intensive drum study with Jimmy Cobb, Joe Chambers, Billy Hart, Joey Baron, and others. Recently, when not traveling with Lee Fields, Evan has also been working on Broadway as a sub drummer for Cirque Du Soleil’s “Paramour.”

In this podcast, Evan talks about:

How he landed the gig with Lee Fields and what a straight-up soul band requires of the drummer, stylistically and technically

How growing up in New York City shaped him as a musician and as a person

His time at the New School, and why a degree wasn’t the point

The most valuable lesson he got from Jimmy Cobb

How there is no substitute for the confidence that comes from putting in the work and getting experience

What has changed about New York since he was a kid, and what will never change

How family life has made it easier to be in the moment, on stage and at home.