"Hey all you prospectives out there! I can’t wait to share my love for music and this great instrument with you. I have over 25 years experience playing gigs as a trumpeter, cornetist, pianist, composer, and bandleader (even as a singer once in a while). I started playing in the San Francisco public schools where I was fortunate in having excellent musicians around me and devoted teachers. I went on to more...
"Hey all you prospectives out there! I can’t wait to share my love for music and this great instrument with you. I have over 25 years experience playing gigs as a trumpeter, cornetist, pianist, composer, and bandleader (even as a singer once in a while). I started playing in the San Francisco public schools where I was fortunate in having excellent musicians around me and devoted teachers. I went on to University of Iowa initially as an undergrad admit to the Writers Workshop but also kept up with trumpet with David Greenhoe. I gradually began playing more gigs in big bands, theater bands, small jazz groups, in religious services with organ. It was a natural step to move to New York and see how far I could go.
I've had a number of devoted teachers and being in New York there's always a chance to learn something new by simply saying hello to a musician. I look at teaching as sharing information enthusiastically and giving a student a chance to check in about issues they're dealing with relating to the instrument, music in general, and psychology of performance. I'm a student of the directions I was nudged towards by several key teachers. These directions include 20th Century Impressionism, free improvisation in restricted key centers similar to Indian Ragas and 14th Century motets but stylistically free, bebop, free-bop (bebop type melodies with free form solos), and music involving rhythmic interlocking counterpoint (like Afro-Cuban, West African and Brazilian music). I've taught at several music schools in the tri-state area including Music School of Westchester, New York Jazz Academy, and Long Island Conservatory.
1994 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition (1st place) top ten on U.S. and Canadian radio charts for All the Things We Still Can Be (2006) top ten on U.S. and Canadian radio charts for Terminal Stillness (2013) top ten on U.S. and Canadian radio charts for Aegean (2015) Jazz Times Album of the Year sextet/septet category (2015) performances at Carnegie Hall as symphonic trumpeter (2003) pe" less...
