Tina Raymond is an accomplished drummer and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. A unique voice in the contemporary improvised music scene, Raymond blends traditional jazz vocabulary with African polyrhythm and classical percussion technique. Brian Zimmerman of DownBeat Magazine writes,

“Raymond displays ferocious chops and a remarkable sense of balance.”

She has toured the US, Europe, and Asia as both a leader and a sideperson.

Raymond’s 2023 acclaimed release, Divinations (Imani Records), showcases the first-call Los Angeles drummer in a groove-centric, melody-drenched context that may surprise admirers of the more abstract tonal personality she’s documented with SoCal avant luminaries like Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia, Eric Revis, and Dan Rosenboom. She has also contributed to two albums with the eclectic Esthesis Quartet.

Other recent releases as a sideperson include Rachel Eckroth’s Live at Sam First (Sam First Records, 2023), Boom Sessions Volume III with Dan Rosenboom, Gary Fukushima, and Eric Revis (Orenda, 2022), Kuba Stankiewicz’s Music of Roman Statkowski (Warner Music Poland, 2021), and Bobby Bradford’s Stealin’ Home (NoBusiness Records, 2021).

On her debut album, Left, Right, Left (Orenda, 2017), Raymond explores America's polarized politics through a set of patriotic hymns, folk songs, protest anthems, and music by Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell, and Joan Baez. Her thesis suggests that concepts of "left" and "right" are integral to understanding both drumming technique and American political discourse.

An Associate Professor, Raymond is the Director of Jazz Studies at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Before her appointment at CSUN, she was tenured faculty at Los Angeles City College in Hollywood, CA. She received a DownBeat Educator Achievement Award (2020) and currently serves as President of the California Alliance for Jazz.

Raymond has presented globally, with teaching credits that include Jazz Institut Berlin, Engelsholm Winter Jazz, University of Gothenburg, Indiana University, Northern Colorado University, University of Nevada, Reno, University of Oregon, Willamette University, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, Loyola University New Orleans, Portland State University, Bard College, Idyllwild Arts, and more.

She earned an M.F.A. in Jazz (drum set) from CalArts in 2010 and a B.M. in double performance (classical percussion and jazz studies) from the University of Cincinnati’s CCM in 2008.

For more information about Tina, visit tinaraymond.com.