Carrie Jahde has earned national awards and a great deal of notoriety over the past decades for her versatile, passionate, and unique approach to drumming. Currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she maintains a full-time touring, recording and teaching schedule, working with musical groups ranging in style from jazz to Latin to funk to R&B. Strongly committed to creative, improvised music, she also composes for and leads the electro-jazz project Planet Loop, which performs regularly throughout the West Coast.
Carrie’s musical background began with classical piano at the age of 8. By the age of 13 she had added singing and trombone into her life, and began performing locally. It was not until the age of 24, however, that she discovered her love for drumming. Carrie immediately exploded onto the Northwest music scene, recording her first full-length album only six months after purchasing her first drum set. Though initially self taught, Carrie later studied with Alan Tarpinian and Alan Jones, and attended the University of Oregon as a percussion performance major.
In 2004, Carrie received a talent scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston and began her drum set studies there, under the tutelage of great artists including Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon); Kenwood Dennard (Jaco Pastorious/Miles Davis); Francisco Mela (McCoy Tyner) and Terri Lyne Carrington (Herbie Hancock). She graduated summa cum laude with a focus in drum set performance. She has received numerous national awards including the Eubie Blake Musicians Scholarship; the John Kittredge Grant for Artists; the USA Funds Scholarship; the Sumasil Grant; the Mensa Scholarship Award and the Miller Charitable Trust Grant.
Carrie’s performance venues have spanned the East Coast, West Coast, Latin America and Europe. Highlights include the LuccaJazzDonna International Jazz Festival in Italy; Riga Music Festival in Latvia; Festival Ecológico in Nicaragua; Belize International Jazz Festival; Ciudad de las Ideas Festival in Mexico; Boston Symphony Hall; Fillmore Jazz Festival; San Francisco Pride; Napa City Nights; LA Dodgers Stadium; Outside Lands Festival and the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. She has performed with internationally recognized artists including Joel Frahm (Brad Meldau); Victor Mendoza; Oscar Stagnaro (Paquito D’Rivera); Juan Escovido (Pete Escovido); Tata Vega; Donna McElroy; Larry Monroe; Rosa Passos and Eric Levy (Garaj Mahal). Her recording credits include twenty-nine albums to date; the films The Eyes of Thailand and Breaking Point; the instructional book Tips for Singers; the Spanish textbook Spanish Chat for Business; the instructional CD Un Tiempo Para Sanar; and the network TV series Jane the Virgin. Carrie has served as the in-house drummer at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Boston and on the staff of Mills College in Oakland as a dance accompanist.
Carrie is proud to be an official artist for Bosporus Cymbals and Canopus Drums.