TOP JAZZ DRUMMER: Jazz drummer Shirazette Tinnin will perform with her band Sonic Wallpaper at Tavern on the Lake in Hightstown on Friday, September 15 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 7:30 first set. Drinks and dinner can be purchased. The cost of the concert is $25. (Photo Credit: Bex Wade)

Jazz drummer Shirazette Tinnin will perform with her band Sonic Wallpaper at Tavern on the Lake in Hightstown on Friday, September 15 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 7:30 first set. Drinks and dinner can be purchased. The cost of the concert is $25. 

Now living in New York City, Ms. Tinnin was born and raised in North Carolina. Early on, she embraced gospel music, and knew, from the age of 4, that she would be a drummer. She graduated from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., and then attended Northern Illinois University on full scholarship for drum set and jazz pedagogy. From her early gospel days, she has expanded into jazz, soul, rock, hip-hop, R&B, theater and music from many parts of the African diaspora.

Ms. Tinnin has traveled, studied, and performed extensively. While in Peru, she fell in love with the “cajon,” a drum primarily used in Afro-Peruvian music, flamenco and jazz. It inspired her to write for it, and eventually, she became the resident drummer at the Tutuma Social Club, New York’s only Afro-Peruvian restaurant and club.

In 2008, she received the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate All-Stars Award (International Association of Jazz Educators). She has served as house drummer for the Meredith Vieira Talk Show and has taught at Columbia College Chicago.

Tavern on the Lake is located at 101 N. Main Street in Hightstown.

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