Jake Cinninger - History

History

Cinninger was raised in Niles, Michigan where he says his parents' extensive record collection influenced his eclectic tastes in music. Cinninger began playing in many different bands by the age of 12, ranging in styles from jazz fusion to country music. After spending some time in the Berklee School of Music, he took classical guitar lessons from Gerry Zubko in Roseland, South Bend, Indiana. In 1997, he started his own band, Ali Baba's Tahini and regularly played shows alongside of another local band, Umphrey's McGee. Cinninger chose to learn his chops by playing with others rather than attend a college musical curriculum, as many of his friends did. Eventually, Ali Baba's Tahini disbanded in 2000 and Cinninger accepted an offer to join as a full-time member of Umphrey's McGee in 2000.

Since joining the band, he has, along with founder Brendan Bayliss, become one of the group's main songwriters.

In 2001, Cinninger released a self-titled solo album released on the Monkey Fuzz Records label. Several of its tracks developed into Umphrey's McGee songs, such as "Blue Echo," "Utopian Sky" which became "Utopian Fir," and "Aster Heights" which contained parts of "Roulette" and "Last Man Swerving."

In 2004, five years after their initial split, Cinninger reformed Ali Baba's Tahini to record an album in the North Carolina mountains.