He is a drummer, percussionist, composer, author and teacher who has performed drums and percussion with the Empire Brass quintet and toured nationally and internationally with them. He has also been the drummer for Blue Man Group and led the drum group Six Drumsets as a performer and composer. He has been a co-leader of the band Fordham Wilkes.
In 2017 he was announced as White Mountain National Forest Artist-in-Residence.
Recordings he appears on include Drag Queens in Limousines by Mary Gauthier, Class Brass: Firedance by Empire Brass, From the Earth Below by Fordham Wilkes and Simmer by Six Drumsets.
In the field of musical education he is a three-time winner of the Japan Foundation Scholarship Grant for studying taiko drumming and Balinese gamelan in Japan and Indonesia. He is a Professor of Percussion at Berklee College of Music.
As an author he has written several articles for magazines and published The Art of Digital Drumming.
Sources:
- https://www.empirebrass.com/members.html
- https://www.berklee.edu/people/steve-wilkes
- https://www.facebook.com/BerkleeCollege/posts/read-for-three-weeks-this-summer-wilkes-will-record-the-sounds-of-the-forest-and/10154721793631198/
- https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=594114
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Digital-Drumming-Steve-Wilkes/dp/0881888699https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Digital-Drumming-Steve-Wilkes/dp/0881888699
- http://www.fordhamwilkes.com/Music.html
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/steven-wilkes-mn0001566409