Performing and/or Recording:

Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead/Planet Drum)
Bahkiti Kumalo (Paul Simon)
Shirelles
Charlie Musselwhite
Babatunde Olantunji
Herbie Hancock
Futureman
D'Cuckoo
Vickie Randle
Carla White
Atari Games
Hamza El Din
Arthur Hull
Layne Redmond
Slide Hampton
George Gee And The Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra
Mona Gnader /Sammy Hagar/June and Jean Millington/Ferron /Holly Near

Endorsees


 Janelle Burdell Bio
Janelle Burdell's "powerful, precise, drumming" has been the drive behind the National Tours of Little Shop of Horrors and Disney's Beauty and the Beast, MICKEY HART and PLANET DRUM, the SHIRELLES, CARLA WHITE, Slide Hampton and many others.

As a Solo Artist, Janelle has brought 'down the house' at festivals and venues in the Bay Area with utterly magical performances playing the Udu Drum. She is presently working on completing several projects featuring this amazing instrument, including the first ever solo CD of the Udu Drum.

Having worked for many years in the studio with Mickey Hart, (Grateful Dead/Planet Drum) on projects both in the studio and on stage, Janelle first performed with Mickey as a duo for BBC's "Voices Across America". This was followed by a performance for a SEVA Benefit  Concert, and numerous recording sessions with Planet Drum. Janelle joined Mickey performing and facilitating many Drum Circles that included Physicians at Marin Medical to Elementary classrooms as well as facilitating many women and youth Drum Circles on her own.
 
Janelle programmed and worked as a sound designer on the PLANET DRUM TOUR 97 as well as THE OTHER ONES 98, featuring former members of the GRATEFUL DEAD. She worked on the movie, "GANG RELATED" featuring TUPAC SHAKUR and various other projects as a sound designer with Hart.
 
Janelle's production credits continue having done professional digital audio engineering for CD ROM Sound Libraries for KURZWEIL's K2000 Series released by ILIO ENTERTAINMENT. Janelle worked on audio clips for a book on the great composer, LOU HARRISON, released by Ethnomusicologist, Fred Lieberman, and OXFORD PRESS. Independent Record releases of Alice DiMicele, "Demons and Angels" and Joanne Rand's, "Monkey Puzzle" add additional Production and Mixing Engineer credits.
 
Prior to working with Mickey Hart, Janelle was a member of D'CuCKOO, the multimedia percussion ensemble, where she built as well as designed and played custom MIDI instruments. This led Janelle to the ZENDRUM--a unique MIDI Controller that enabled her voice in sound design to emerge. Breathing life like expression and creating dazzling performances, WATCH JANELLE! at  various NAMM shows  performing with "Futureman" of BELA FLECK and the FLECKTONES and Jennifer Hruska to hear  two of her compositions.
 

From 1986 to 1993 Janelle was on staff at Carnegie Mellon University with the Drama Department performing in many productions and master dance classes with choreographers and directors, Billy Wilson, Robbie Marshall, Josè Meir, Mladen Kisolov and Greg Lehane. Featured in productions of "Tartuffe" and Beckett's "Act WIthout Words", Janelle composed and performed structured improvisational pieces using various acoustic and electronic instruments and effects from atop a 15 foot high platform located on stage.

Her theater  and dance credits continue, performing with the Pittsburgh Public Theater's revival of "100 Million Frenchman" (which had not been performed since the original Broadway production!) as well as the Pittsburgh Playhouse's "La Cage au Folles" and "Dames at Sea" as well as various projects with the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy.
 
Raised from jazz roots in Pittsburgh, PA, Janelle performed for years with the internationally known big band, George Gee and the Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra and also led her own quartet.

Janelle also attended Duquesne University in her early years in Pittsburgh. During this time, she performed with a Polynesian Revue, which began her interaction with World Rhythms, Instruments, sounds and culture while shaping her into a versatile show drummer.

 
A charismatic teacher, Janelle has been asked to speak and perform master classes at Universities around the country on her extensive experience in ELECTRONIC PERCUSSION, WORLD MUSIC, IMPROVISATION, and INTERACTIVE ARTS. These schools include Carnegie Mellon University (Entertainment Technology Center, Computer Science, Music and Drama Schools), Duquesne University (Music School for Performance and Music Therapy), Sonoma State University (Music, Drama, and History Departments) and Soka University of America (Liberal Arts) and show Janelle on the vanguard again as a leader of Interdisciplinary Education.

Janelle's affiliation with the Institute for the Musical Arts has been long standing. Her introductory course to recording your own songs, was taught as a Production I workshop at the Institute for the Musical Arts Summer Sessions. While there as an artist in residence, she also co-facilitated other Production and Recording Workshops.

 
Included in her experience is over 15 years of teaching privately, as well as five years as the percussion instructor for the Woodland Hills School District. Year end 1999, Janelle created  RHYTHM GAMES, a non profit project that uses drumming and the drum circle to empower, with a focus on women and youth, while developing skills in conflict resolution This marked a change of direction, creating the next step for this powerful artist. With this vehicle, Janelle prepares to "light a brushfire of drumming across America".
 
Drummer, percussionist, teacher, and facilitator--Janelle Burdell is a major force in the new global rhythmaculture.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT JANELLE...

"Janelle has a great groove! She puts it right where you want it."
- Mickey Hart, percussionist~Grateful Dead, Planet Drum

"Janelle Burdell ROCKS!! One of the finest drum set players out there today - plenty of technique & a powerful groove."
- Layne Redmond, solo percussionist,~ author of "When the Drummers were Women"

"Simple & Solid... Makes you feel good."
- Bhakti Kumalo, Bass Player ~Paul Simon / Mickey Hart

"Janelle... is a pioneer of interactive live performance."
- Electronic Musician, Dec 1995

"Janelle is a drummer I met through the people at Zendrum. I believe very strongly that she is on to something very deep with her music and playing.  She understands Mother Nature's electrical and earthy roots in the role of her drumming approach. Her playing and composing helps to rhythmically and musically inspire the natural impulses of our world - playing hands and dancing feet!."
- Future Man/  Royel Wooten ~Bela Fleck & the Flecktones