Sergé "Jojo" Mayer (born 18 January 1963) is a Swiss drummer born in Zürich and currently residing in New York City.
Mayer is the son of touring musician and bass player Vali Mayer and the brother of actress Delia Mayer. He began his career as a drummer at an early age, receiving his first drum set at the age of two. Having taught himself throughout his childhood, he broke out into the professional music scene at the age of 18, joining the Monty Alexander group. Touring with the group launched him into the major jazz music scene, and he has played at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux, Nice, and Athens etc., which culminated with his gigging with jazz-greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Nina Simone. Eventually, after playing with a great variety of artists, Mayer moved away from jazz and into Drum 'n' Bass.Drummerworld: Jojo Mayer Drummerworld
Jojo Mayer is known for bringing together jazz, drum and bass, jungle, and other influences. He is also famous for his ability to play the rhythms of programmed jungle drum 'n' bass music on acoustic drums, terming this technique "reverse engineering", a phrase borrowed from computing. He executes this approach using various methods such as the heel-toe bass drum technique, the Moeller stroke, the Valving technique, and the "pull-out" or "push-pull" accent which takes the beat on the rebound. Using these techniques, he can play beats at astonishing speeds. A few of his main influences are Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette and Buddy Rich.
He is the leader of live electronica quartet Nerve, which he founded in 1997.
He played with the guitarist David Fiuczynski in the avant-garde jazz rock band Screaming Headless Torsos and in the fusion jazz band, Intergalactic Maiden Ballet.
He ran the popular Prohibited Beatz live electronica party in NYC from 1996–2001.
Discography
With Intergalactic Maiden Ballet: 1992 - Square Dance 1994 - Gulf
With John Medeski: 1994 - Lunar Crush
With Screaming Headless Torsos: 1995 - Screaming Headless Torsos
With Harry Sokal: 1996 - Rave the Jazz! :live:
Sulfur: 1998 - Delirium Tremens
With Leo Tardin 2005 - Grand Pianoramax
With Janek Gwizdala: 2004 - Mystery To Me - Live in New York 2010 - The Space in Between 2011 - Live at the Jamboree June 17th 2011 1st set 2011 - Live at the Jamboree June 17th 2011 2nd set 2011 - Live at the Jamboree June 18th 2011 1st set 2011 - Live at the Jamboree June 18th 2011 2nd set 2012 - It Only Happens Once 2025 - Found
With Depart 1987 - Depart 2006 - Reloaded 2008 - Mountain Messenger
With Rebekka Bakken 2009 - Art of How to Fall
With Trace Elements 2015 - Electric Job (Live in Teramo)
Nerve (Jojo Mayer, John Davis, Jacob Bergson): 2007 - Prohibited Beatz 2010 - EP1 2010 - EP2 2011 - EP3 2011 - The Distance Between Zero And One 2012 - EP4 2014 - EP5 2015 - Live in Europe 2015 - Ghosts of Tomorrow 2016 - Vocal Collaborations 2017 - Nerve 2018 - After the Flare 2019 - Lunar Tribute 2019 - Music for Sharks
DVDs: 2007 - Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer: part 1 2014 - Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer: part 2
Media
He was featured as the cover story of the January 2008 issue of Modern Drummer magazine. Jojo Mayer was interviewed by DrummerConnection.com in May 2010, and by Linus Wyrsch on "The Jazz Hole" for breakthruradio.com in July 2010.
Gear Mayer is a long-time Sonor endorser who also uses Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks and Evans Drumheads. He helped Sonor design the Jungle kit and snare. He has also collaborated with Sabian to create three lines of cymbals: the Vault "Fierce" series, the "Omni" series, which includes both AAX and HHX models, and the HHX "Anthology" series. His Vault Fierce cymbals feature a raw, unlathed finish, and extensive hand hammering, while the Omnis are designed to function as both rides and crashes. He also helped to develop the hoop crash of Sabian and the perfect balance (single pedal of Sonor).
Personal life Mayer has stated he likes to listen to Bach, Mozart, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Hendrix, Aphex Twin, Angine de Poitrine, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper and fito y los fitipaldis
References
External links
Jojo Mayer's Nerve Info at Basitours 2013 Audio Interview with Jojo from the podcast "I'd Hit That" An interview with Jojo Mayer by The Drummer’s Journal, 2014