Mark Ferber
Drums
51 age
January 18, 1975 Birthday
Oakland, California, U.S. Birthplace
www.markferber.com Website
Social
Shows
About
Mark Ferber is a first-call jazz drummer who has appeared on over 200 recordings and performs regularly with leading jazz artists on both coasts. He is a member of Ralph Alessi's This Against That (ECM Records), the Marc Copland Quartet, the Brad Shepik Organ Trio, and his twin brother Alan Ferber's Grammy-nominated big band and nonet. His extensive list of collaborators includes Lee Konitz, Fred Hersch, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Billy Childs, Jonathan Kreisberg, Bob Sheppard, and Anthony Wilson. Down Beat has praised his "uncommon empathy" and "relaxed, rhythmically assured sense of swing." Ferber is Professor of Drumset at California State University, Fresno, and teaches in the Masters program at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Brooklyn.
Trivia
Ferber earned a degree in biogeography from UCLA rather than music. He studied classical percussion with Mitchell Peters and jazz drums with Billy Higgins and Joe LaBarbera. He appears on Jihye Lee Orchestra's Daring Mind, which won Best Jazz Album at the Korean Music Awards. In 2025, he released Confluence on Scarlet Tree Records, a project blending jazz improvisation with Bach's chamber music, alongside his brother Alan on trombone and sister-in-law Jody Redhage Ferber on cello.
Early Life
Mark Ferber was born on January 18, 1975, in Oakland, California, and grew up in Moraga in the San Francisco Bay Area. His grandmother, a Broadway actress and singer, introduced him and his identical twin brother, trombonist Alan Ferber, to jazz and show tunes as children. He began playing piano at age five and later switched to drums, becoming so captivated that he abandoned his piano studies entirely. He studied classical percussion with Mitchell Peters and jazz drumming with Billy Higgins and Joe LaBarbera. In high school, his band director Ken Bergman became a key mentor, giving him after-school lessons and daily ensemble experience. Ferber attended UCLA, where he played in the jazz band but earned a degree in biogeography. He performed professionally in Los Angeles before moving to New York to pursue freelance jazz work.
Mark Ferber Solos
2004
Drums solo - New For Now - 2004
4/4 swing in D minor at 273 BPM
Drums solo - Five Bucks A Bungalow - 2004
4/4 swing in F major at 269 BPM