Lucas Gillan – Percussion/Guitar

Lucas Gillan started playing drums when he was nine years old in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona, and quickly found himself performing frequently in settings as varied as churches, punk clubs and jazz concerts before entering high school. While in high school, Lucas played in Tucson's top student jazz and classical ensembles and decided that music was destined to be more than a hobby for him. This led him to the elite Jazz Studies program at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He graduated in December '07 with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies and a minor in Journalism.

While at NIU, Lucas maintained a 3.75 GPA and played in numerous jazz, classical, and world music ensembles including the Philharmonic, Percussion Ensemble, Latin Jazz Ensemble and the renowned NIU Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Ronald Carter. While with the jazz ensemble, Lucas had the privilege of performing with jazz greats Antonio Hart, Claudio Roditi, John Clayton, Charles McPherson, Rodney Whitaker and Jiggs Wigham. At NIU, Lucas studied with world-class professors such as Greg Beyer, Rodrigo Villanueva, and Fareed Haque. In the summer of 2006, Lucas played drums in the showband of the Carnival Pride cruise ship, playing for audiences of thousands every night in week-long trips to the Mexican riviera.

Nowadays, Lucas regularly plays drums with Chicago jazz veteran Bob Perna and Chicago's most exciting new jazz organ trio, the Spiral Organ Trio. He also plays in a 10-piece '70s pop cover band called Boogie Shoes and an up-and-coming piano-driven rock group called Wyatt. He even works as a solo singer-songwriter, playing guitar and performing original songs for audiences in Chicago.

Other musicians and groups he has played with include Dave Miller, Jerry DeVivo, The Right Now, Howie Whitaker, Jesse Scinto, Erin McDougald, Susie Gomez, Natalie Ferwerda and Josh Moshier. Besides being a busy performer, Lucas is a dedicated educator, having taught privately for over seven years. He loves sharing his passion for music with drummers and guitar players of any age, and teaches over 30 students every week.

Lucas also works as the brand director and program director for AccuJazz.com, an Internet jazz radio station based in Chicago whose parent company is leading global webcaster AccuRadio.