About Jerry Adolphe

Jerry Adolphe was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. His father was a military drum instructor and jazz musician who taught him how to read music earlier on. Throughout his early years of life, Jerry Adolphe began developing an incredible feel and sense of time on the drum set–his main trait as a drummer. By the time he was fourteen years old he was already performing live on the weekends. Jerry did so by taking his father’s place in his bands whenever he was overbooked. In the seventies, Jerry Adolphe began offering drum lessons while gaining a lot of experience and exposure playing the nightclub scene in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

In 1977, Jerry Adolphe moved to Los Angeles, California, United States. During his time there, he played with a band on the weekends and, with the help of David Foster, was able to take lessons from a couple of his favorite drummers: session legend Jim Keltner and L.A. Express’ own John Guerin. In 1980, Jerry Adolphe moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and played the city’s rhythm and blues (R&B) club scene alongside guys like Jim Byrnes and Doc Fingers, just to name a few. When 1982 came knocking on Jerry’s door, he packed his bags and returned to Calgary. Upon his return, he began playing with a band called Prototype before joining Chilliwack. Jerry Adolphe was awarded the West Coast Music Association award for Percussionist of the Year from 1987 to 1990.

In the nineties, Jerry Adolphe returned to Vancouver. He took off in the R&B music scene and quickly became a sought-after session drummer. He has since played in countless CDs, commercial jingles, television projects and even on the stage musical RENT. You can also listen to Jerry’s drumming on all the music composed for EA Sports’ video game NHL 97. Jerry Adolphe has won the award for Best Drummer from the British Columbia Country Music Association every year since 2005. These awards have contributed significantly to further his status as a legendary drummer. Jerry Adolphe plays Pearl drums, Ayotte drums, Sabian cymbals and Vic Firth 5A drumsticks while performing with The Jim Byrnes Band, Chilliwack, Lisa Brokop and any other project he’s hired to take part in.

Jerry Adolphe has been teaching on and off for 40 years now. His vast experience and knowledge on playing for a song, dynamics and feel development make for a very unique and musical instructor. What makes him an even greater drummer to learn from is that even today he keeps learning new feels for himself and exploring new ways to make songs easier to play for his various bandmates. Jerry Adolphe is very excited about Drumeo because it enables him to pass along all his knowledge to a whole new generation of drummers. Now, besides his love for groove playing, Jerry loves playing golf and eating spicy foods; his favorite movie is Blazing Saddles and he loves watching Bugs Bunny and The Three Stooges.