About James Abate

James Abate has been playing and teaching percussion for over 20 years. During that time, he has played in various musical venues in Western NY, Central NY, North Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Las Vegas, Northern Nevada, Idaho, and Utah. James has had the opportunity to perform with entertainers/ bands including, Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show, Bemus Bay Pops, Syracuse Stage, UNLV Jazz Ensemble, Crane Jazz Ensemble, Crane Wind Ensemble, Crane Percussion Ensemble, Eastman Trombone Ensemble, The Flamingos, Bruce Johnston, Jeff Jarvis, The Barking Owls and many more.

As a teacher, James has taught private percussion lessons for 18 years in Upstate NY, Las Vegas, and Twin Falls Idaho. He has also taught public school instrumental music in Las Vegas, Northern Nevada and is currently teaching instrumental music for Syracuse City Schools in Syracuse, NY.

 His music degrees include a B.M. in Music Education from SUNY Potsdam and M.M. in Jazz Studies from   UNLV (University of Nevada at Las Vegas)