The first time I did lay my hands on a guitar was at the age of 13. Then I went to study classical guitar at the Academie de Musique d'Ixelles - by chance the teacher was a French guy who played also Flamenco, very unconventional, you could come in any time and I remember him saying "put more LOVE into your music..." while coaching students - the rest of the time he was talking about Women. Needless to say my interest in music and guitar was high ! One of his students, José, had the Perfect Pitch and knew all the Rock repertoire note for note - thus that first year of guitar study I learned to play from Led Zep to Genesis, and my first guitar piece learned was Steve Howe's "Mood for a Day" as is.
Those teachers gone, I studied classical guitar on my own, then via a very Dear Friend of mine I got interested in Jazz. Mind you - Philip Catherine did rehearsals in his parent's living room, and I was then also blown out by the musicianship of his brother, Nicolas Fiszman, stunning guitarist already at the age of 11...
Life went on - some rock bands here and there, I married and went on with business and family life (management consulting, coaching, ...) In the 90's I did study with François Decamps, freshly graduated from Berklee then. Very generous musician, nice guy who helped me with basics in Jazz. Shortly after this, I met on the net someone who quickly became a very good friend of mine. We talked Philosophy, Theology, Business, et al - and when he did knew I play some guitar, he sent me his impressive bio. LeMont Johnson, pianist, did record with Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman, Kenny Burell, George Benson, and so many others, did play with Monk on stage, and is part of American Music Heritage. We had plans, unfortunately LaMont passed away in 99. He taught me a lot, I have his scores here and have to do something about this one of those days.
Divorced in 2000, I started to play again outiside of my living room. Some study at Jazz Studio d'Anvers, and some at Sangit - Daniel Shell's Indian Music School - I love Indian Music ! - then I fell in love with African Music, followed by listening to music or playing at Matongé nights long, and for 6 years playing in a Congolese Band, "Mayi" ("Water") here is one of the pieces we perform. Then met some Latinos, in a very nice project, "à la saison de nos amours" here, or "Ode a Myriam" (not mastered, but I put it here as it was fun, and I like the groove). Currently back into classical guitar, hopefully I'll be back into Jazz next year.
Voilà ;-)oh... ! yes... How I made my profile:I used Dave & Jay's amazing myspace layout editor