JACOB WENDT is a musician, composer, music director, and educator in the Los Angeles area. A native of Northern California’s Bay Area, Jacob started playing the piano at the age of six. His musical curiosity led him to study multiple instruments during his youth, including the guitar, bass, tuba, drum set, and percussion.
Although heavily influenced by Jazz and R&B drumming greats of the 1950’s and 60’s, his sound is unique; balanced, supportive, and interactive, with a driving energy that serves the music while leaving space for others to speak — he is an authoritative yet never intrusive player. His original ensembles have headlined major venues across Northern and Southern California (Blue Whale, Yoshi’s, Fillmore Jazz Festival, Catalina’s, The Grape, Jazz Under Ground, The Harmony Room). To date he has released one album as a leader (Jacob Wendt Quartet, 2011) another as co-leader (Carter-White-Wendt, 2013) and a collection of original compositions (Jacob Wendt Sextet: Live at the Blue Whale, 2020).
Jacob leads and performs with The Long Beach Jazz Jam, currently in its TENTH year running and hosted at The Auld Dubliner in downtown Long Beach. The house band plays original music and pieces that Jacob has transcribed from various jazz albums - a collection of over 250 charts! The LBJJ has been the premier jazz jam session in Long Beach for over a decade.
A new Jacob Wendt Quintet album will be released in 2024 featuring all original music and arrangements! SILVER STREET - featuring Harry Ostrander (trumpet) Jimmy Emerzian (tenor sax) Doug Carter (piano) and David Reynoso (bass). Recorded live in a single room without isolation at Big City Recording, Granada Hills, CA. Stay tuned.