Drum Kit & Percussion

London based Michèle Drees is an established drummer, latin percussionist, vocalist, guitarist and composer and has been active on the Music scene for more than 30 years.During this time Michèle has played with top Artists across a wide variety of genres including Marc Almond, Kirsty MacColl, Seal, Badmarsh and Shri, Ive Mendes, KD Lang, Susanne Vega, Candy Dulfer, Ian Shaw, to name but a few. Performing on many of the great stages, Royal Albert Hall, The Barbican, Ronnie Scott’s and numerous Jazz Festivals throughout the world including Montreux.

Michèle's love for tap dance began as a little girl. Mesmerised watching Fred Astaire and the Nicholas Brothers, she has said that it was this influence that sparked her deep love and appreciation for rhythm and the main reason she chose to play the drum kit.

Moving to London in the early 1980's she took up tap dancing and drumming at the same time. Since 2009 Michèle Drees' trio has been the rhythmic bedrock of the London Tap Jam at Ronnie Scott's. This has over the years cemented her understanding of how to support rhythm tappers.

Thirty years on, Michèle has come full circle, returning to her first love; she has created her Jazz Tap Project. The vision behind it is to express the visceral musical connection between these two incredible art forms. https://www.micheledrees.com/

Kari Paavola has been teaching drums professionally for 25 years in London and also lectured about professional music making in top European Universities. On top of his educational activities, Kari is an active performer playing 100-150 concerts annually as a freelance drummer. Kari has a strong method to get kids, teenagers, and adults started on the instrument. Kari also knows how to teach future professionals, and he was a teacher at the respected www.lccm.org.uk 2002-2008 before moving to Europe for a few years. Currently Kari teaches privately, at Ark Academy high school as well as at Park High School. At YMM you can study with Kari on Saturdays. As a performer Kari has played all around the world and maintains a busy schedule in London. Kari has worked with: Enriques Inglesias, Womck and Womack, Imaani, Vanessa Haynes, British Blues Awards winner Julian Burdock, Xantone Blacq, The Wedding Present, Brandon Allen and many others in all styles from jazz to funk , soul and pop.

Oren moved to London from Manchester in 2016 to study on the Jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music. Since graduating with 1st Class Honours and as a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (diploma in music education), Oren has been privileged to work with a vast array of artists in many genres.

As the Drum Kit was created in the catalyst of Jazz in the early 20th century, the study of Jazz

laid a strong foundation for playing all other genres and, as a result, Oren has performed on

world-renowned stages such as The Roundhouse, Southbank Centre, The Great Escape Festival, Jazz Cafe, and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, to name a few, and has recorded at world-renowned studios such as Abbey Road Studios (with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason) and BBC Maida Vale Studios for Decca Records and BBC.

In addition to the drum kit, Oren studied Percussion extensively for several years at Chetham’s

School of Music, ranging from solo & orchestral classical percussion (achieving a Distinction in Grade 8) to Cuban and Brazilian percussion, and has performed professionally from the percussion chair, including recording for the BBC.

Oren’s love for music became apparent from an early age, nurtured in a home where music and

instruments were part of the furniture. He was gifted his first drum kit from a family friend at the age of 2, and if not seated behind the kit in a baby-grow (photo evidence available upon request) could be found bobbing up and down in front of the CD player. Oren’s first taste of performing came when he performed in a tribute to the great Irish guitarist, Rory Gallagher, at Dukinfield Town Hall in his early teens. The rest, as they say, is history.