1986:
Music Theory I, Studies in Blues History: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert King, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, Luther Allison, Johnny Winters, Lightnin' Hopkins.
1996:
U.N.F. grad B.A. Psych/Lit track. Winner in the 23rd annual undergraduate writing competition (It pays the rent.)
1999-2001:
Post-Baccalaureate classes in music. Studies w/5-time Downbeat award winner Lisa Scott-Kelly. Performance w/original lyrics to "In a Mellow Tone" (in front of Horace Silver!). Studies w/opera Singer Nicole Hamilton. Studies w/undergraduates: Eric Herrin and James Hogan. Jam sessions w/U.N.F. students at Juice n' Java and places near Cafe on the Square. 12 key studies. Serious VFW jam sessions at St. Augustine in the summertime.
2002-2005:
Restoration Youth Arts Academy in the heart of Brooklyn. Guitar instructor. Great Children, Loving Parents.
2006-2007:
CCNY student. Taught other students privately. Studies w/Rick Stone, Dan Carillo, Mike Holober...
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On a more primal level, some people were into music before they ever thought of asking the question, "Why Music?" But for me the decicion was one of conscious choice and deliberation that still has the force of revelation. I suppose it is natural for one who approaches life like an anthropologist and poet to be attracted to Jazz. The world is filled with people who have already produced words about everything in the world; books to hold these words; shelves to hold the books; rooms to hold the shelves and buildings to preserve the books through the ages. There is an innate desire to express, to historicize, to commemorate seen in every drawing, great work or monument from the beginning of time. Music is the least plastic of the arts. It is also the one that best presents the passionate urgings of what it means to be alive. It is the most flexible of the arts and capable of expressing every shade of meaning and feeling. There is a great divide between living one's life and expressing one's life: between selling a dream and building one. A divide that everyone, including musicians, must bridge with countless activities. The greater the musician, the more exposed and familiar they are with this territory. There is nothing that is more direct than song. From the inside out it is like a map that says "X" you are here. Jazz is not forgetting. It is remembering who we are.
