Steve Hass (born May 11, 1975) is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Island Park, New York, born to Greek immigrant parents from Athens. He is notable for his technical skill, time feel, and his musical versatility, having played with many artists from a wide variety of genres.
Early life
Born at Nassau Community Hospital in Long Beach, a suburb of New York City , Steven Hasapoglou was the youngest of three brothers raised in a blue collar lower middle class home in Island Park N.Y.
He began playing music in the Lincoln Orens school concert band at the age of 12. Two years later he formed bands outside of school with neighborhood kids. One band, named Life In General, experienced mild success with gigs in Manhattan and record label interest from EMI records.
Steve’s family then moved to Lake Ronkonkoma where he attended Sachem High School and was also in the concert band. There his band director was a jazz trumpeter, and Steve started showing interest in jazz music.
At the age of 17 Steve began working professionally in wedding and club bands around the tri-state area.
Education
Steve studied privately with various top professionals at The Drummers Collective in Manhattan. He then applied for a scholarship to the Percussion Institute Of Technology in Los Angeles and was asked to attend the “pro learn” program designed for professional drummers. There he won the Sabian Cymbals award for best jazz drummer. This was the beginning of his 30 plus years as a Sabian Cymbal artist. While at P.I.T , Steve auditioned for the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was awarded a full scholarship.
He was the first student in the drum department to be sent around the world as a Berklee student representative, along with other students as a part of trios and quartets. Steve performed in Cyprus, Japan, France, and New Zealand as a Berklee student representative. He was also in the first Berklee-Monterey Quartet. A quartet sent to play at the Monterey Jazz festival in California. Steve was the drummer in this quartet for two consecutive years. While in Boston he worked professionally in many bands to pay for books and housing.
Career
After attending Berklee College of Music on scholarship from 1993–1996 Steve was asked to join the Ravi Coltrane Quartet. He toured and recorded with the band from 1996 to 2002. The music was a mixture of traditional jazz, funk, and odd meter fusion. During this time Steve was also a studio drummer in New York City playing on dozens of national jingles, record dates, television shows, and movie soundtracks. He was also a member of Ruben Wilson's "Masters Of Groove" where he shared the drum chair with the legendary Bernard Purdie. In addition, during this period Steve toured with Christian McBride, Suzanne Vega, Miri Ben-Ari, Bob Berg, and Richard Bona amongst others.
In 2003 Steve began touring and recording with multiple Grammy winners and Atlantic recording artists, The Manhattan Transfer. He remains the first call drummer for The Manhattan Transfer, and works with them as his schedule permits. He is the first touring drummer in the history of the band to actually record with them. He is featured on 3 album releases and 1 live concert DVD. In late 2003, Hass released a solo album named Traveler. The C.D displays Hass' skills as a talented producer. His usage of sonic layering and drum loops is reminiscent of Jon Brion.
In 2005 Steve joined John Scofield and Mavis Staples to support Scofield's Verve release "That's What I'd Say". The band toured around the world from 2005 until December 2007 playing R+B, Soul, Jazz and Latin. [1]. Scofield also used Steve in his jazz trio, along with bassist John Benitez for select local N.Y dates.
In 2006 Hass had an eight-page feature interview in Modern Drummer Magazine. He is now a regular educational contributor in the "ask a pro" and "workshop" columns.
Hass with John Scofield
Los Angeles
In 2007 Steve established a second residence in Los Angeles and quickly became a popular choice for musicians and producers on the L.A scene, both live and in the studio. His company Hassbeat Productions Inc. provides studio services to artists worldwide while allowing Steve to record drum tracks for a variety of artists around the world. He continues to tour with a variety of artists. Since moving to Los Angeles Steve has become a regular with renowned artists such as Billy Childs, Bob Sheppard, Brandon Fields and Alan Pasqua as well as maintaining his presence in the studio with contemporary rock singer/songwriters. 2012 has been his busiest year yet juggling recording sessions for producers The Difference, Rami Yadid and Ken Wallace and tours with R+B great Patti Austin, top selling fusion/new age pianist Keiko Matsui and The Manhattan Transfer. He continues to work with R&B/Jazz Grammy winner Patti Austin in all variations of her touring band. In 2018 Hass began working with Jeff Lorber and The Jeff Lorber Fusion. They toured the United States and Europe until the Covid pandemic of 2020 caused all travel to stop.
Musical affiliations
Here is a short list of Steve Hass' musical affiliations in alphabetical order:
