BIOGRAPHY + CV
Drummer and composer Kevin Romain has established himself as one of the most in-demand drummers in Vancouver’s creative music scene.
After relocating from Windsor, Ontario in 2007, Romain studied jazz and contemporary music at Vancouver Community College. Since then he has toured regularly across North America as well as Europe, China, Japan and West Africa. He has studied with Marcus Gilmore, Tomas Fujiwara, Mark Guiliana, Dan Weiss, Bernie Arai and Dylan Van Der Schyff, and has shared the stage with luminary musicians such as Anthony Braxton and legendary West African percussionist Doudou N’Diaye Rose.
In 2015, Romain travelled to Dakar, Senegal to study Sabar music and perform in the Deggi Daaj Festival of Drumsets and Dance. He spent the bulk of 2016 living in Brooklyn, NY studying and performing jazz and improvised music.
Currently based in East Vancouver, Romain has focused his efforts on composing for his group Enemy Pigeon, a post-bop jazz ensemble in the spirit of Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet. He also co-leads and composes for modern jazz trio Simple City.
As a sideperson, Romain can be heard performing regularly with art pop ensemble Only A Visitor, Itamar Erez' jazz quartet, and gamelan-rock iconoclasts We Just Stole A Car, among many others.
Romain's newest endeavor, New Polyrhythmic Directions for Solo Drumset, pushes his complex rhythmic approach to composition and improvisation to new depths, searching for the limits of physical coordination and temporal cohesion.
Selected Discography
– Simple City – s/t (2020)
– Itamar Erez – Mi Alegria (2019)
– Only A Visitor – Technicolour Education (2018)
– Only A Visitor – Lines (2017)
– Twin Rains – Automatic Hand (2016)
– Only A Visitor – Tower Temporary (2015)
– Kevin Romain’s Free Time Trio – Live at Destroy Vancouver (2015)
– Sprïng – Celebrations (2014)
– Fist Full O’ Snacks – s/t (2014)
– We Just Stole A Car – Chat Tambour (2013)
– Selina Koop and The Blank – Completely (2013)
– Albatross Trio – Her Body, Her Soul (2013)
– Bleating Hearts – s/t (2012)
– Robots On Fire – West Broadway Rundown (2012)
– Alien of Extraordinary Ability – Four Compositions for Three Instruments (2010)
– Selina Koop and The Blank – s/t (2010)
– We Just Stole A Car – Barn (2009)
Selected Festival Appearances
– Montreal, Toronto and Halifax Jazz festivals (2017)
– Vancouver International Jazz Festival (yearly 2010-2016)
– Winterruption, Vancouver BC (2017)
– Alianait, Iqaluit NU (2014, 2016)
– Sled Island, Calgary AB (2011, 2015)
– Sound of Dragon Chinese Music Festival, Vancouver BC (2014)
– Rifflandia, Victoria BC (2014)
– Music Waste, Vancouver BC (2011, 2012)
– Campbell Bay Music Festival, Mayne Island BC (2013, 2015)
– Accordion Noir Festival, Vancouver BC (2014)
– Victoria Folk Fest, Victoria BC (2011)
– Powell St. Festival, Vancouver BC (2011, 2012)
Teaching History
– Freelance private drum kit and percussion instructor from 2004 to present.