Biography

Growing up under generations of professional musicians, Jacob’s musical career started around 2 years old, when he became inseparable with his tape deck and was learning to read from his dad’s Musician’s Friend catalogs. Inspired by his dad, Jacob initially started playing Guitar in elementary school, but never really felt the fire. A gut-decision drum lesson at summer camp changed his life though, and that instant connection showed him he found his instrument.Immediately after that summer, Jacob joined the jazz ensemble at school, started playing in theater pits in the community and at camp, and digested literally every piece of music he could find. By the time high school ended, Jacob had played in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney World, with a continuing stream of musical theater and occasional moments of living out a rockstar fantasy with local bands. In the pits, Jacob learned not only how to play a supporting role and lock in a production, but also musical adaptation and how to stay relevant in a changing musical climate.At Hampshire College, Jacob continued to play drums while starting to add Keyboards into his arsenal but it was touring with Circus Smirkus immediately after graduating, where his musical career started to find its niche. At the Circus, Jacob was brought on as a featured musician to not only be a band member, but follow and accent the action on stage while being flexible enough to adapt to the unpredictable nature of many circus acts. From there, Jacob went on to be the main drum substitute for the Big Apple Circus for their holiday season run at Lincoln Center for 2014 and 2015, and was brought back to Smirkus in 2016 as bandleader.  After the 2016 tour ended, Jacob moved to Colorado and quickly developed a reputation as both a musician and programmer, working with artists and productions playing Drums and Keyboards. He’s excited to see where the journey goes next!