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ABOUT
TOM HIPSKIND
I was born April 21, 1970 in Elgin, Illinois and grew up in what back then was a very small town called Lake-In-The-Hills, which is about 45 miles northwest of Chicago. Then nothing interesting happened for a long time. When I got to college, I started at Elgin Community College, then went to the American Conservatory of Music before finally moving on to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. I went there for three years, playing in the NIU Jazz Ensemble with such jazz greats as Clark Terry, Lou Marini, Red Rodney, Marvin Stamm, Jon Faddis, Tito Puente, Louie Bellson, and many others. I got my Bachelor of Music degree in 1994 and moved on to graduate school (thus moving to the city) at DePaul University in Chicago from '94 to '96. Since moving to the great Town of Chi, I've been lucky enough to work with some fantastic musicians in many live contexts such as acoustic jazz, electric jazz/fusion, pop, rock, R&B; I've also been fortunate to have purveyors of the ditties you hear on TV and radio commercials (and also pinball, video and casino games) call upon my services once in a while. I've really come to love studio work for many reasons! Another first for me was in 2003, when I was invited to audition for the Broadway musical The Lion King, which was about to open in Chicago for a year-long run, and became the sub drummer (the regular was the great Jim Widlowski). What a great challenge that was!
In addition to Kick the Cat, I've been playing with guitar great Ernie Denov in his band called Bad Dog U, another jazz/fusion instrumental group that veers a bit more toward progressive rock. I have done two tours in 2004 with actor Gary Sinise's Lt. Dan Band for the USO, playing in military bases in the U.S. and overseas. In February of '04 the band went to the Pacific region to Singapore, Diego Garcia Island, and South Korea. Amazing experience. I've also been playing in composer Kimo Williams' group called Kimotion, in support of its most recent studio recording Tracking, from which I get to (try to) re-create the drum parts forged by the great Vinnie Colaiuta, who shares the drum chair with me from time to time (ok, it's more like I just hand him the sticks and get out of the way...). And 2005 marks my 10th year in the fabulous pop outfit The Mix, which does clubs, corporate functions and weddings.
In the last couple of years, I've been starting to teach privately more than ever before. I started in the fall of '04 as the jazz drum instructor at Columbia College, and I also have my own private studio in Chicago.
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