Aaron Kaufman | SoultoneCymbals.com

Aaron Kaufman

Aaron Kaufman

Aaron Kaufman was born in 1983 in Charlotte, North Carolina to an incredibly gifted musical family. His father Alan is a producer, conductor, arranger, renowned piano player and an accomplished percussionist/drummer, who has co-produced works for such artists as Glenn MIller, Buddy Rich, and James Brown. His mother Sheila sings, plays piano and also comes from a very musical upbringing. With with music running deep on both sides of his family, Aaron grew up surrounded with exposure to a wide spectrum of the musical arts including classical and orchestral, soul, r&b, blues, rock, and anything else that happened to be playing on his parents record player at the time.

With the soundtrack to his childhood already engrained, Aaron was bitten by the music bug in his early teens and decided to explore learning the craft for himself. Convinced from day one that drums were his first love, he began taking lessons from some of Charlotte’s best instructors who also happened to be close friends of his family. Aaron breezed through instructional books, played along with every record he could find, and dedicated himself to practicing for hours on end. This laid the foundation for Aaron to start his very first band in early high school, which quickly caught on in popularity with his friends and peers and gained the attention of local musicians and venues who allowed them to come and play open mic’s, perform shows in local bars and restaurants, and even sit in with some of the area’s more established acts. This experience just fueled Aaron’s desire to learn and perform at higher level.

Throughout college where Aaron attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington to study Business, Aaron played in a variety of groups alongside some of the area’s best musicians. This allowed Aaron to ‘cut his teeth’ performing rock, funk, improv/jam, bluegrass, folk/americana, and other styles of music in a public setting, supplementing his education with hours and hours of experience performing in venues large and small across the southeast.

After graduating Aaron moved back to Charlotte to start his young adult life and career. With his connections and reputation already in place, he immediately was thrown back into the mix as one of the area’s more versatile and reliable drummers, and was regularly called to fill with established acts, becoming a permanent fixture in the regions music scene.

Now in his 30’s, Aaron’s resume’ as a professional drummer includes three studio releases, performances in dozens of venues and festivals across the Eastern US, and sharing bills with such acts as Booker T Jones, The Marshall Tucker Band, Gov’t Mule, Blues Traveler and North Mississippi Allstars, among others. He currently plays permanently with Heywire, a southern rock/funk/americana outfit who is set to release their third studio album this year (the second of which features Kofi Burbridge, Grammy award winning artist with the Tedeschi Trucks Band), and The Shana Blake Band which is a local favorite soul/funk/jazz/r&b group working every weekend in clubs and venues in the Charlotte area, gaining popularity with each high energy performance.

Aaron became a proud endorser of Soultone Cymbals in July of 2014. His tour dates and show information can be found on each of his band’s websites and social media platforms, as well as his own social profiles.

https://twitter.com/AaronWalterK
https://twitter.com/Heywireband
https://www.facebook.com/heywireband
https://twitter.com/Shanablakeband
https://www.facebook.com/shanablakepivotalsoul

My Soultone Set: 

21" Vintage Old School 1964 Crash Ride
17" Vintage Crash
14" Custom Hi Hats

Discography