Colorado native and longtime Canopus artist Colin Stranahan began his career in his teenage years when he began actively working in the local Denver scene. From there Stranahan has gone on to record multiple records on the Capri Record label and he has also received the prestigious National Foundation Advancement of the Arts Presidential Scholar award (2005). Stranahan studied at the University of the Pacific as a Brubeck Institute fellow and he also attended the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (Loyola Univ., New Orleans). In fact, Stranahan was also one of the winners of the 2012 Thelonius Monk Drum Competition.
A first call performer Stranahan has performed with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jonathan Kreisberg, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Fred Hersch, Terence Blanchard, Dave Kikoski, Kevin Hays, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, to name a few. Stranahan is also part of a collective trio featuring some of the most talented and praised young musicians in New York City. Together, the Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato trio has recorded and released three successful albums including live at The Jazz Standard.
In addition to performing Stranahan is also an accomplished teacher and he currently holds adjunct teaching positions at the Aarhus Royal Academy of Music and London’s Royal Academy of Music. Stranahan has also taught at the The Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony, The Fara Sabina Summer Jazz School and, The Festival in Fara (Sabina, Italy) and when he’s not busy with the foregoing he gives drum master classes at The Oberlin College, the New England Conservatory, the International Jazz Conference (Thailand), and, the Singapore Esplanade Jazz Festival.
Colin Stranahan
