Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Rachbach.
Hi Tim, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in Tucson, Arizona, I remember being driven around town to school and various extracurricular events by my father. Music was always playing – rock bands R.E.M., Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. I immediately loved it – the power of the performance, the sounds of the electric guitars, and the emotional energy of the songs themselves. I knew I wanted to try to play an instrument. Starting on guitar, I began taking classical guitar lessons. After a few years, I liked learning the etudes but wanted to be more involved with the music creation and playing with a band. I picked up the electric guitar but still didn’t find the connection I was looking for. After re-listening to a lot of the rock music I was hearing, I discovered that I was particularly drawn to one aspect of music – rhythm. I then decided to take up drum lessons and felt immediately more at home. Starting on just snare drum, I began reading very basic rhythmic etudes and learning the most basic rudiments. After a while, I really wanted to play drum set. While I was learning the basics on drum set, my brother was playing in an extra-curricular program called the Tucson Jazz Institute. Not having very much interest in jazz, I decided to take a class taught by my brother about the fundamentals of jazz music. Not immediately drawn to any of the material or music presented in the class, one of my brother’s friends played a live concert at a restaurant in Tucson. Playing a mixture of standards and modern music, I was blown away by one song in particular — “Brooklyn Sometimes” by guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. I was enthralled with it as much as I was with songs by The Who and R.E.M. Now completely engaged, I heard Kurt’s album “The Next Step” and pianist Aaron Parks’ album “Invisible Cinema”. I was completely shocked that this was considered jazz music. It seemed to have the power of the rock songs I was drawn to but left more room for the musicians to create and express themselves.
Now hooked on these modern jazz players, I began studying at the Tucson Jazz Institute starting in middle school. While there, I played in both big bands and small combos. I learned about bebop and hard-bop and studied music by Charlie Parker and Horace Silver, and also big band music by Duke Ellington and Thad Jones. As I continued to progress on my instrument, I also developed more of a hunger and interest in learning to play jazz. Now in high school, I was more serious and spent a lot of time practicing, rehearsing, and listening. I was involved in the Arizona All-state Jazz Band all four years of high school and competed and won in the Monterey Next Gen Festivals and Essentially Ellington Festival in NYC with the TJI Ellington Big Band. Now more sure than ever I wanted to pursue a career in music, I went to study at the Manhattan School of Music in NYC. While there, I studied with professor John Riley and had the opportunity to hear legends of the drums including Al Foster, Roy Haynes, and Louis Hayes play at the Village Vanguard, Smalls, Birdland, and Smoke. I’d also see the younger cats like Kurt, Brad Mehldau, and Brian Blade, and was enthralled with their sense of beauty with their compositions and extremely emotive playing. I also had the opportunity to play in many ensembles at school in addition to gigging independently around NYC. Still very much into the modern music of the times, I began to have more of an ear for musicians of the past like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Bud Powell more than I ever did before. I recorded my first album as a leader with musicians including Adam O’Farrill, Xavier Del Castillo, Manuel Schmiedel, and Rick Rosato.
After five years in NYC, I decided it was time for a lifestyle change and relocated to sunny LA. Having met various musicians from LA at various camps I’ve done around the world including Banff Canada and Amsterdam Netherlands, I felt like I already had somewhat of a musical family. Now a lot more into recording and playing other instruments, I released my first solo record called “Kindred Spirits” which features me on guitar, bass, drums, synth, drum programming, and producing all of the originals. Stepping into other genres such as indie and hip-hop, I have still remained primarily a jazz musician. Now teaching at a few musical schools, I continue to play at LA venues such as Sam First, Vibrato, the York Highland Park, The World Stage, and Libretto up in Paso Robles. I lead my own band with musicians Devin Daniels, Adam Hersh, and Jermaine Paul, as well as playing as a sideman for numerous other instrumentalists. I plan to either stay in LA or go to Europe to study and work towards a Master’s degree.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
During my formative years, it was tough to stay focused and practice every day. Thankfully, I had a very motivating drum teacher, Brian Harris, who kept me on track, kept me inspired, and always cared about how I was doing. The Covid epidemic is by far the worse event that has happened in my life career-wise. I moved to LA only one year before Covid happened, so I didn’t have much time to get established before it all stopped. It takes many years to get established in a new place even when things are normal. I had no gigs for a while so I ended up busking at the Silver Lake meadows with a sax trio. A very unfortunate casualty of the pandemic was the great Blue Whale Jazz Club, which I had seen so many incredible concerts at. I was really looking forward to playing there one day but never had the opportunity to do so. Thankfully, gigs have been more plentiful now and I am getting to play at some of my favorite venues here.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I perform, compose, record, and teach as a jazz musician. When recording, I play other instruments. I am most proud of my ability to listen and create spontaneous works of musical art on the spot in studio or on stage. It takes a lot of courage to be a musician and I believe I take risks when playing. I also feel like I have a good sense of how the big picture comes together and letting the music go on its own journey. A sense of drama, spiritual attune-ness, and sense of beauty are all required. I also have a deep understanding of the history of the music and know about many different musicians and their work. I also have a very strong commitment to making the music swing and feel good.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I like the ability to really hunker down and tune out the city when you need to. This is very hard to do in a place like NYC but it’s possible here. There is really everything here – city, forest, mountain, ocean, and suburb. It’s really inspiring. A lot of creatives do their best work in these spaces where they are alone and can be focused. The weather is beautiful. California is my favorite state nature wise with all the incredible National Parks. Funny enough my like can also be my dislike. LA can feel isolating at times and feel like there is no true identity or community. I miss the camaraderie that musicians had in NYC because everyone felt more like a unit. Here it feels like everyone is more independent and closed off from one another which can be good but can be bad for facilitating making music with one another and creating bands.
Pricing:
- Drum lesson (online)
- $40 an hour
- Drum lesson (in person)
- $60 + depending on location
Contact Info:
- Website: timrachbach.com
- Instagram: tim_rachbach
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.rachbach/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyAOgRiZndGfbDwe7VCFUtw
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tim-rachbach
Image Credits
Sachi Sato Craig Cochrane Diane Banyai
