With his edgy style and innovative beats, jazz and blues drummer Isaiah Spencer has carved out a unique reputation in Chicago and on the national and international music stage. Not only has the North Side native performed at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Englewood Blues Festival, Jazz Showcase, the House of Blues and Rosa’s, he has taken the stage to perform with legends like Fred Anderson, James Moody, Nicole Mitchell, William Parker and Ernest Dawkins and others.
The Chicago Tribune’s recently retired Music Critic, Howard Reich, has called his sound “propulsive” and “incendiary.” Chris Searle, culture writer for the Morning Star said his sound is “fiery.”
A North Side native, Spencer has studied with Dr. Curtis Prince in Chicago’s All-City Jazz Band, with Dana Hall and Ernie Adams in the Ravinia Jazz in the Schools program, at Roosevelt University, and with legendary jazz educator Ronald Carter at Gallery 37, a paid summer job teaching the arts to youth. He has also studied with Ralph Peterson Jr., Kenny Washington, Greg Hutchinson, Ed Soph, Hamid Drake, Albert “Tutti” Heath, and Wilbur Campbell.
Now, Spencer is the one doing the teaching. He is a teaching artist and mentor for a nonprofit organization called Youth Guidance, and a percussion teacher and assistant band director at New Trier High School. He directs his own drum camp program and through his mentoring and volunteer work, he teaches children how music can help them to overcome obstacles and reach greater heights.
