Luis Gonzalez

I started playing piano at 5 and was classically trained. I eventually moved from classical to ragtime, after hearning ragtime and stride piano. My inspirations were composers like Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb and later stride pianists like James P. Johnson, Lucky Roberts and Willie "The Lion" Smith. My music education has included attendance at Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory, South End Music Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music, before earning a BA in Music in Education (University Without Walls) and a Masters Degree in Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I recieved a Massachusetts certification for Secondary Social Studies and taught high school in Worcester, Massachusetts for 6 years before deciding that the job wasn't a good fit. One of the reasons was because I didn't have time for the music I love. The result was that I applied and was accepted for a masters program in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University/Newark. My objective is to complete this program and continue on to a Doctoral program in American Studies. My performances usually consists of the music of Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, Joe Lamb, and other ragtime greats as well as a sprinkling of popular songs of the ragtime and stride eras.