Winter 2025

62 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 D on’t let his youthful looks fool you. This guy is a powerhouse and masterful practitioner of the art of drumming, fluent in a multitude of genres, uniquely qualified to bring the percussive fire to pretty much any musical situation. A Big Sur native, Mike Shannon began playing while in elementary school.“I listened to rock music as a kid,” he says,“but was exposed to jazz early on by guitarist Bruce Forman and saxophonist Paul Contos.” Later, he landed a spot in what is now called Monterey Jazz’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and never looked back.Today, he maintains a busy teaching schedule at Dennis Murphy School of Music and is also co-writing a book on “linear funk drumming” with renowned drummer Jim Payne, due to hit the market in early 2026. Performance wise, he works regularly with Italian tenor Pasquale Esposito with whom he performed on two PBS television specials filmed in Italy, with another coming up soon. “We’re booked solid across the U.S. and the Bay Area.” Locally, they’ll be at the Carmel Mission on December 7. Shannon is also first call West Coast drummer for guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan.“That’s a huge honor,” he says. Others he regularly gigs with include jazz guitarist Hristo Vitchev, also a member of Esposito’s band. — Michael Chatfield MUS I C I AN PROF I L E Mike Shannon Photo: Kelli Uldall