{"id":3054,"date":"2024-08-07T15:41:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T22:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/?p=3054"},"modified":"2025-03-14T23:52:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T06:52:33","slug":"instructor-ehssan-ace-karimi-in-earshot-jazz-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/instructor-ehssan-ace-karimi-in-earshot-jazz-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Instructor Ehssan “Ace” Karimi in Earshot Jazz Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Behind the Kit with Ehssan Karimi<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

August 2024<\/a>, Feature<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ehssan Karimi photo courtesy of the artist<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY ROB MOURA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult to make a living playing music, and yet Ehssan Karimi<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 drummer, percussionist, and professional Hang player \u2014 has accomplished just that. Over the last decade he\u2019s played for countless Seattle barn-burners such as McTuff, Ayron Jones, and the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio among them, and played to tens of thousands of people in arenas across the globe. Within 24 hours of our chat, he\u2019ll board a plane to Hawaii to begin drumming for legendary hip-hop group Digable Planets \u2013another result of his lifelong dedication to pursuing his dream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Karimi\u2019s infancy, a life behind the kit seemed impossible. \u201cI was born with clubbed feet,\u201d he explains before listing multiple reconstruction surgeries before his sixth birthday. Bound to a wheelchair, he missed school while he relearned how to walk. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t have those surgeries, I wouldn\u2019t be able to use my feet for drumming, let alone for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in his recovery, Karimi found himself drawn to the drums. After bashing on an electronic kit as an eight-year-old, his parents bought him the real thing for Christmas two years later. \u201cAfter my first year of high school,\u201d he says, \u201cI had a clarifying moment where I thought, \u2018I just want to play drums.\u2019 I didn\u2019t have any other interests as far as pursuing a career.\u201d That persistent mindset, and the years he spent honing his talent, brought him to Boston\u2019s Berklee College of Music on a full tuition scholarship. \u201cI took full advantage of it,\u201d he says, given that he wouldn\u2019t have been able to afford it otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after Berklee, he nabbed some crucial live experience as the drummer for The Scene Aesthetic, a band of immense popularity within the Myspace sphere. \u201cThat was five dudes in a van and no tour manager, getting no money at all,\u201d he says. It would end up being The Scene Aesthetic\u2019s last tour, as the band would call it quits soon after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon returning to Seattle, Karimi spent his nights seeking community within the city\u2019s fragmented music scenes. The search brought him to the Sea Monster Lounge in Wallingford. \u201cThe first time I went I saw McTuff, and I thought that band was nasty, as good or better than anything I saw at Berklee.\u201d His frequent attendance at the venue ingratiated him to some of Seattle\u2019s most talented musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the year, he was offered to tour with Thao & the Get Down Stay Down on a bill supporting The Head and The Heart, and, later, The Lumineers at the height of their popularity. \u201cI\u2019d never experienced that level of jet lag and sleep deprivation,\u201d he recalls. \u201cMy warmups consisted of just taking a nap in the green room and then, five minutes before the show it\u2019s, \u2018Wake up!\u2019 and then you\u2019re in front of thousands of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karimi isn\u2019t just a sideman; he\u2019s written his own music as well, primarily through another percussive instrument, the Swiss-made handpan known as the Hang (pronounced \u201cHong\u201d). Intrigued by its capacity for composition, he spent his entire savings on a direct order from Switzerland in his first year at Berklee and immediately started writing music. Years later, his playing alongside fellow Hang player Kyle Baker would become a staple of the Oregon Country Fair\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Karimi admits the work has its ups and downs, he acknowledges how fortunate he is, for instance, to pay off his student loans solely through his drumming. He also believes anyone is capable of that echelon of success. \u201cHaving a good attitude, being prepared, and being easy to work with, I think those things are really important,\u201d he notes. \u201cOn top of being a badass at your instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find the full article: https:\/\/www.earshot.org\/project\/2024-08-behind-the-kit-with-ehssan-karimi\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behind the Kit with Ehssan Karimi August 2024, Feature Ehssan Karimi photo courtesy of the artist BY ROB MOURA It\u2019s difficult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"disabled","site-content-layout":"disabled","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"disabled","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"disabled","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"disabled","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"disabled","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"disabled","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"disabled","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[160,150,169,186,188],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teacher-feature","tag-drummer","tag-earshot-jazz","tag-music-teacher","tag-press","tag-seattle-musician"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3056,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3054\/revisions\/3056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3054"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattledrumschool.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}