Before moving to Los Angeles in the fall of 2010, Zack Albetta was most frequently seen and heard in the Kansas City area as the drummer for Trio ALL (with pianist Mark Lowrey and bassist Ben Leifer), an original instrumental trio that also served as the rhythm section behind vocalist Shay Estes. Since 2003, Zack has been active throughout the Midwest as a performer, composer/arranger, educator, author, adjudicator and clinician. As a member of the 18th & Vine Big Band lead by sax great Bobby Watson Zack has backed up legendary vocalists Karrin Allyson, Mary Stallings and Ernie Andrews. Other performance credits to date include Angela Hagenbach, The Kansas City Symphony, The Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and Clint Ashlock's New Jazz Order Big Band. Zack has several recordings to his credit with Kansas-City-based artists Shay Estes, Trio ALL, Ron Gutierrez and Clint Ashlock's New Jazz Order Big Band and Hallmark Inc. Los Angeles-based artists and organizations Zack has worked with include Josh Nelson, Bob Reynolds, Center Theatre Group, The CW Television Network, The American Musical & Dramatic Academy and Disney Inc.
As an educator, Zack's experience includes serving as graduate teaching assistant at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, teaching private lessons to students of all ages covering all styles for fifteen years, and presenting clinics and master classes at various high schools, colleges and universities throughout the Midwest.
As a writer, his articles have been published in Percussive Notes Magazine, the periodical publication of the Percussive Arts Society, and OnlineDrummer.com, an educational website on which he has also been featured in two instructional videos.
Zack began playing drums and percussion at the age of eight in his home town of Santa Fe, NM and studied privately with the area's finest, Jeff Sussmann, for nearly a decade. From 1998-2000, he studied percussion with Scott Ney at the University of New Mexico. In the summer of 1999 Zack was the timpanist for the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps (Denver, CO) and won the DCI Solo Competition for Timpani. In 2000, he transferred to Ball State University in Muncie, IN to study percussion with Dr. Erwin Mueller. In 2001, he won the Ball State Orchestra Concerto Competition, performed as marimba soloist with the orchestra, and represented Ball State in a solo percussion recital at Mukogawa University in Osaka, Japan. He graduated from Ball State in 2003 with a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance.
In the fall of 2003, Zack entered the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to study percussion with Dr. Jim Snell and jazz with Bobby Watson and Doug Auwarter where he completed a Master of Music in classical percussion and a Master of Arts in jazz and studio music.
Zack has been an Artist Endorser for Bosphorus Cymbals since 2007.