I’m a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston with a dual degree in Jazz Performance and Music Education where I studied drum set with Gary Chaffee, Joe Hunt, Ed Kaspik and Robert Kaufman; vibraphone with Victor Mendoza; Improv Theory with Gary Burton; and ensembles with George Garzone, Donald Brown, Phil Wilson and Herb Pomeroy among many others. I’ve performed with Diane Schuur, Valery Ponomarev, Joshua Breakstone, Gary Versace, Scott Robinson, Richie Cole and many musicians and bands on the Kansas City jazz scene including as a founding member of the long-standing Doug Talley Quartet, which has toured extensively throughout the midwest since 1995 and recorded five albums.
I’m also a graduate of Park University where I studied Art and Graphic Design. I have paintings in numerous private and corporate collections, including H&R Block, T-Mobile, the Stowers Institute and the Heartland Spine & Specialty Hospital. I’ve designed magazine and book covers, postcards, posters and hundreds of CD packages for musicians from coast-to-coast. With the decline of CDs, I now build, maintain and host websites for musicians, artists, organizations and companies from a variety of sectors. See my work at keithkavanaugh.com and bauwau.com.
Private instruction
Keith accepts drum set students wishing to study jazz and related idioms. He teaches from his upcoming book, Musical Independence on the Drum Set, with a focus on developing improvisational and listening skills.
In-person lessons are taught at his home studio outside of Independence, Missouri. Frequency of lessons can be weekly or bi-weekly and length can be half-hourly ($30) or hourly ($45). Payment may be made with Venmo, PayPal, cash or check.
Contact him today for more information or to schedule a lesson.