Christopher Kostyn Passante is a jazz/funk/fusion/blues drummer in Central Pennsylvania. He is working with Jerry McGowan and Drew Hall under The Dark Matter Trio, an eclectic fusion project. CK has played with jazzers Delbert Felix (Branford Marsalis), Micheal Geib, David Keller, Duncan Aspinwall-Winter, Simon McGuiness and Craig Washington, to name a few. He was most recently in the jazz concept band The Vibe on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Like most drummers, I got my first kit when I was young enough to think it was more fun to poke holes in the heads than play them. It took me a little to figure out those things weren't cheap and they sounded better intact.

By the age of nine, I studied with local jazzer Charlie Wolfgang in Rome, N.Y. Then I bought my first "real" kit, a 1960s-era Ludwig five-piece from a G.I. who was being relocated. It was $100, and I shoveled all winter to pay back my dad. I wish I still had that sparkling silver set. It was LOUD.

My early influences were Charlie Watts, Neil Peart, Phil Collins, John Bonham, Chester Thompson and Steve Gadd. Although these guys span the drumming spectrum, they have one enormous commonality: You know exactly who they are when you hear them play. It was Bonzo, Watts and Chester who made me rip open that first set of Ludwigs and tear out all the dampers.

Today, my influences range much further, but those early ones have stuck with me. As jazz is my first love in drumming, I like to bring the wide-open sound of Bonham and Watts, but aspire to mix it with the tone of Joe Morello and Brian Blade.

I'm pretty excited to be playing with Jerry McGowan and Drew Hall. These guys have mad skills and wide-open minds. Hope to have some recordings in the not-too-distant future along with some performance dates.

Stay tuned.

ck