Jeff Sherman

Jeffrey Edward Sherman (born March 15, 1952) is an American musician. He is a founding member of the band Glass, as well as a solo artist who has released both under his own name and under the pseudonym Jeff Joad.

Biography

Early career (1952–1969)

Four years after Jeff Sherman was born in Seattle, his father an electrical engineer for Seattle City Light, moved his wife and family to the tiny Skagit Valley town of Diablo in the North Cascades of Washington. This wilderness town mentioned in Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel The Dharma Bums was built by Seattle City Light as part of the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project for their employees. Qualified engineers were needed so as an enticement, free rent and utilities were offered in addition to the opportunity to raise a family in a pristine natural setting. Jeff, his brother Greg and their sister Janis grew up literally in the wilderness of the Cascade Mountains. Jeff began his formal musical training in Diablo in the early ‘60s, taking accordion lessons from a family friend at age eight. When the Sherman family moved to Port Townsend (on the Olympic Peninsula) in 1964, Jeff taught himself to play the electric guitar and, in the spirit of the times, soon formed the first of many bands. When the bass player in one of these bands quit, Jeff switched to the bass guitar, which eventually became his main composing tool for progressive music. In Port Townsend High School, Jeff played saxophone in the school concert band and cello in the school orchestra. As a senior he wrote “Euphoria 17,” an experimental avant-garde classical piece premiered by the school orchestra along with his keyboardist brother Greg, and their childhood friend drummer Jerry Cook. Jeff had just turned 17.