Meet Your NYS Music Staff: Zack Luckin

Zack Luckin has been writing for NYS Music since his freshman year of college. He has covered shows in the Ithaca area and music festivals such as Grassroots, Sterling Stage, and Summer Camp. Starting at the age of five, Zack began taking piano lessons and later took up percussion in the fourth grade. He continued drumming, taking lessons at The Hochstein School of Music in Rochester and was the principal percussionist and jazz drummer of his band and jazz band in high school for three years. He participated in solo festival and all county band every year since the sixth grade and was selected for the Area All-State ensemble as a senior in high school.

zack luckinNow Zack is a sophomore Environmental Studies major at Ithaca College and minors in German. He is 92 WICB Ithaca College Radio’s Local Music Director and DJ’s their local music show Homebrew. When not interviewing bands or having them in for live performance in the studio, Zack partakes jazz and funk jam sessions and constantly searches for new funk influences as inspiration for his drumming. Though spending most of the year in Ithaca, at his home in Wolcott, NY, he works at Rose Valley Organic Farm and cooks at a local restaurant, Skipper’s Landing.

Zack’s first real exposure to to the live music scene was at the age of 16, when he attended Sterling Stage, a hidden gem in the upstate festival circuit. This life changing experience consisted of live acts such as Sophistafunk, Audioinflux, and Subsoil, leaving a lasting impression and becoming some of his favorite musical acts. Since then his taste for music has constantly evolved, building a love for jazz and funk such at Lettuce, Soulive, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, Orgone, and Spare Parts. Zack also has a fondness for many other types of music, including bands like Dave Grisman, Jatoba, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and Gramatik. He strives to expand his music library and knowledge, but always comes back to unbeatable sounds of the upstate New York music scene.

Zack’s music bucketlist consists of John Scofield, The Roots, The Motet, Santana, and Swoop Unit.

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