Sam Prather

Sam Prather is an exciting and multifaceted musician and visual artist from Washington DC. He began playing piano at a young age and began taking lessons with Dr. Mildred Ellis. In his teens Sam was not enthusiastic about classical piano playing and took a break from regular piano instruction that would last into college. It was during this break that Sam studied classical percussion in the DC Youth Orchestra Program while beginning to play piano and organ in church.

It was his affinity for percussion that caused him to participate in the Marching Band at Wilson SHS under the direction of Kenneth Dickerson. It was Dickerson who introduced Sam to Jazz and encouraged him to join the Jazz Band. It was through Dickerson and the Monk Institute that Sam was able to see live performances of Branford Marsalis, Michael Brecker, George Duke, and Danilo Pérez. Those artists and their bands including Jeff "Tain" Watts, Joey Calderazzo, James Genus, "El Negro" Hernandez, John Pattitucci, all immediately became staples of Sam's Musical diet along with the normal Hip Hop and R&B influences. Another important influence was thematic composition lessons from Dr. John Cornelius.

Once the seed was planted Sam found his own way into jam sessions and the UDC jazz program head up by the late Calvin Jones. While enrolled at UMBC Sam studied with Rick Hannah and Lafayette Gilchrist who introduced him to Monk, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, and the other masters of the piano tradition. Sam always stayed involved with the music scene, but it was his four years with YaMama'Nym (r&b/soul band) that really got him recognition in the music community. YaMama'Nym released two projects and toured in Korea and Japan with the USO. It was in this period that the timeline based video editing programs he used as a visual artist proved to be an asset when introduced to MIDI sequencing. These projects with Tre Barr (Owner and Producer) and Dennis Turner (Music Director and long time musical collaborator) allowed Sam to develop and showcase his talents in composing and arranging.

Sam recently graduated with a degree in Digital Arts, and a music minor from UMBC. He now plays straight-ahead and groove oriented gigs all over the Baltimore/DC area as he promotes his first solo album and works in several capacities with 2AM music.