Jake is a musician, comedian, writer and educator whose artistic journey has taken him halfway around the world and back. He left an Ivy League education and transferred to Berklee College of Music in 2010, in order to turn his greatest passion into a full-time career. Jake’s eclectic resume includes five released indie rock records (with a sixth on the way), countless dueling piano shows, producing episodes of the popular podcast Switched On Pop, music directing for improv and sketch comedy, and countless other gigs. Since moving to Los Angeles in March 2018, Jake has starred in a musical at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, co-written and -starred in a sketch show at the world famous Second City, and released Drunken Logic’s third album, The Loudness Wars. In 2022 he earned his master's in Community Music at the USC Thornton School of Music, and he is currently a music educator at the Geffen Academy @ UCLA, as well as a working artist.
Jake Cassman's music echoes the raw energy of indie rock, the artful melodicism of power pop, and the thoughtful and vulnerable songwriting of the best Americana. And since he began releasing music in 2013, Cassman has embarked on a musical odyssey that has taken him to intimate venues and major stages around the country, drawing in audiences with electric, eclectic performances, and songs that make the intimate seem epic and the political feel personal. Equal parts California dreams and East Coast grit, Cassman returned to his home state after seven years in Boston, and settled in Los Angeles in 2018. This year will see the release of his debut LP, Idling High -- a staggeringly ambitious and disarmingly honest record that showcases Cassman's wry humor, acute observations, and boundless compassion.
Jake began playing piano at age five, and started writing music soon after. He loved Elton John from an early age -- but when his teacher couldn't show him how to play Green Day songs, he began teaching himself; and when he realized he wanted music to be his career, he left an Ivy League school to pursue it. Since then he has worked as a dueling piano player, musical theater composer, improv and sketch comedian, and podcast producer (just to name a few gigs). He is also a published academic and a school music educator, and still finds time every weekend to play pickup basketball and try new beers based on the silliness of their names.
Cassman has contributed performances and songs to various political and social justice causes, and his inventive, award-winning music videos bring the stories and ideas from his songs to life in unforgettable ways. His previous project, Drunken Logic, contributed the song and video "What A Beautiful Morning!" to the 2016 anti-Trump compilation 30 Days, 30 Songs alongside R.E.M., Death Cab For Cutie, and more. Now using his own name, Cassman is poised to join acts like Gang of Youths, Sam Fender, and Lucy Dacus whose music is at once introspective and anthemic, and whose singing and writing voice is both timely and timeless.
