About Steve
Internationally-acclaimed drummer Steve Lyman has enjoyed a rich and satisfying career thus-far in his musical life. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Lyman moved to New York City in 2005 to study at the prestigious New School University. Lyman quickly began working with some of New York's finest musicians under the tutelage of his teacher and mentor, drummer Ari Hoenig. Lyman's first major opportunity was performing with vocalist José James (with whom Lyman was an active member from 2006-2008) performing on Mr. James's critically acclaimed album The Dreamer, which was voted #21 of the top 50 albums in 2008 (JazzTimes Magazine). As a performer, Lyman has enjoyed sharing the stage with some of the leading voices in jazz and contemporary music, including: Aaron Parks, Jon Batiste, Gilad Hekselman, Nir Felder, Julian Pollack, Chase Baird, José James, Ben van Gelder, Ben Street, Bill McHenry, George Garzone, Ralph Alessi, Logan Richardson, Jaleel Shaw, Thomas Morgan, Tyshawn Sorey, Madeline Eastman, Joe Martin, Dan Tepfer, Clark Sommers, Becca Stevens, Kris Johnson and Corey Christiansen to name a few.
Lyman has also toured the world extensively as a performer. In Europe, Lyman has performed throughout the UK, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, playing such venues as the BBC Studios London, The Blue Note Milan, and the New Morning Paris. In the United States, Lyman has performed at the renown Blue Note and Smalls jazz clubs regularly (both as a sideman and as a leader) as well as toured throughout much of the US.
As an educator, Lyman has taught workshops and masterclasses throughout much the country, combining a passion for the history and tradition of jazz drumming while able to cultivate the syntax and language to moving it forward. Teaching alongside legendary drummer Billy Hart at Montclair State in New Jersey in 2007, Mr. Hart called Lyman, "One of the great young drummers in the world today." Lyman is currently an international clinician performing drum clinics around the globe.
Lyman released his debut record Revolver in 2013 which featured all original compositions and received 5 Stars from All About Jazz Magazine. Lyman is also the author of the book A New Approach to Odd-Times for Drumset published by Mel Bay Publications (2013). Steve Lyman is currently a Professor of Jazz Drumset Studies at the University of Utah and Snow College and proudly endorses Craviotto Drum Company Drums, Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals, Remo Drumheads and Reflexx Practice Pads.
Steve on PolyNome
As someone who is trying to find new rhythmic and metric boundaries to break, I find that the Polynome App is essential. It helps me come up with new compositional elements I would otherwise not be able to explore and as an educator it helps me to play along to complex groupings easily and to share those elements with students around the globe.