“A dextrous young drummer”

— DownBeat

Acclaimed Boston-born drummer and composer Lee Fish has been part of the thriving Brooklyn music scene since 2018. A fixture at Wally’s Cafe during his student tenure at Berklee — playing with such distinctive leaders as Jason Palmer, Esperanza Spalding, Nadia Washington, and Evgeny Lebedev — Lee became a highly sought collaborator in Boston, who’s now flexing his breadth as a leader in New York City. 

Having earned his master’s degree on full scholarship at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Lee received his earliest musical education on the road. Long before he studied under Danilo Pérez, Terri Lyne Carrington and Joe Lovano, at age 3, he would perform with his parents’ band Amante at venues across North America, from Florida to Quebec. Since then, he’s performed all over the world on nearly every continent, appearing on more than 50 recordings, including Mike Tucker’s 2014 release Live! Featuring Warren Wolf, and Jason Palmer’s critically acclaimed 2019 release Sweet Love that received four stars from DownBeat Magazine. 

“Lee Fish is one of my favorites — inventive, tasteful, and exciting — a creative force to watch for on the instrument”

— Terri Lyne Carrington

In the studio and on the bandstand, Lee has enjoyed artistic associations with a range of icons, including Danilo Perez, Warren Wolf, Gary Burton, Julian Lage, John Ellis, David Gilmore and Ryan Scott, among others. Lee’s artistry allows energy to inform his choices on the bandstand. His aesthetic reflects joyful confrontation. He seeks to challenge traditional constructs, mingle genres and push the music in soulful new directions, always inviting the listener along for the ride. According to DownBeat critic Matthew Kessel, Lee’s “funky rhythms bring to mind a New Orleans snare player.” 

The centerpiece of Lee’s expression is groove. At once thoughtful and unpredictable, he plays with a vitality as pervasive as the heartbeat that pulses from one moment to the next. His dynamic sensitivity serves the music wherever it wants to go. And his familial connection to harmony influences textural intentions and experimentation.  

“Explosive and prodding and propulsive, and incredibly subtle and nuanced when the moment calls for it”

— All About Jazz

In 2017, Lee began an extended project study of the vast repertoire of his late mother Lori Starr’s unrecorded music. “Sounds of a Starr” incorporates new interpretations of his mother’s original compositions Lee arranged for unique instrumentation, as well as themes, excerpts and inspiration from her library of journals and poetry albums. View “Sounds of a Starr’s” first presentation here. 

Lee performs regularly throughout New York City including at The Jazz Gallery and Bar Next Door in downtown Manhattan and Sunny’s in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He has been a Zildjian artist since 2018, and looks forward to releasing new music in the coming months and his debut recording in 2023. For more information, or to follow Lee’s tour schedule, visit www.leefishmusic.com