Zach Adleman

Zach Adleman joins the SJW Mentor Fellowship program this year, and it’s easy to see why. Zach considers teaching one of his true passions in life. He currently teaches private lessons online/person as well as having served on faculty at the Jazz Institute @ Brevard. Zach strives to use music as a means to connect people as well as better other’s lives through; performance, teaching, and composition.

Zach has performed at Carnegie Hall, the 57th Annual Grammy Awards After Parties, and the Newport Jazz Festival alongside jazz luminaries Wynton Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker, Mike LeDonne, Elio Villafranca, and Randy Brecker. Additionally, he holds a GRAMMY for playing percussion on Ted Nash’s “Presidential Suite” release, on the song “Water in Cupped Hands.”

Zach has received honors including first prize at the 2017 J.C Heard National Drum Competition, and an invitation to perform with Igor Butman’s 2019 “Future of Jazz Concert” in Moscow, Russia. He was also selected to attend the JAS Aspen Academy led by Christian McBride, and the Ravinia workshop led by Rufus Reid and Billy Childs.

As a scholarship recipient at Michigan State University, Zach was asked to join eminent trombonist Michael Dease’s band and is featured on his 2018 album release, “Reaching Out” on Posi-Tone Records. The following year, Zach recorded “One-Track Mind,” as part of his co-led “Becoming Quintet”, which garnered reviews from JazzTimes and DownBeat magazine. As a bandleader, he has played the Detroit Jazz Festival (ft. Rodney Whitaker), Maureen’s Jazz Cellar, the East Lansing Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s curated Fall for Arts Festival on Roosevelt Island.

Zach is a proud Montclair, New Jersey, native. Growing up, Zach got his inspiration from his musical parents, and his neighbors who showed him rock and metal music at age 6. Once Zach learned about the audition to his public school’s 4^th and 5^th music group, he set his eye on joining the all percussion ensemble (Drums of Thunder.) Under the direction of Louis D’Amico, Zach performed frequently at venues such as the U.S Open, Madison Square Garden, and MetLife Stadium. Years later (while in high school) Zach found his passion for jazz through Jazz House Kids and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra. He feels forever indebted to his teachers for sharing such a rich musical culture with him.

On November 14, 2021, Zach performed a set of all original music for Brave Sound Productions in Washington Heights. In addition, Zach is passionate about the possibilities of collaborating with visual media- including scoring for film and dance. He wrote a short movie score for Olivier Coeffard, a student at the London Film School entitled “Lydia.” Additionally, he led a video project entitled “We Make”, combining two Juilliard dancers (Lindsay Phillips, Briana Del Mundo), a videographer, and a jazz quintet to speak on the pandemic. 

Zach has a BM in jazz performance from Michigan State University and a MM from the Juilliard School of Music in Jazz Performance. At Juilliard, Zach participated in the a Gluck fellowship, the Duke Ellington Artist Diploma Ensemble, and contributed to the Juilliard Journal.