Music:
Member Since: 3/17/2006
Band Website: stretch-music.com
Band Members: I’ve been in many bands but my most active (rehearsing and gigging) project right now is Stretch (with George Chinaglia, Dave Hess, Mike Hermans, and currently drummer Randy Wooten; former drummers include Andreas Brade, Doug Betensky, Matt Taylor, Erik Kaczynski, and others). Stretch has been playing for almost 10 years. In addition, I play with Kevin So on many of his stage, radio, and television performances both locally and as far as Chicago and Austin; I was a full-time member of his band in 1998 (along with Eric Gerber; and, on local gigs, Bob Moses, Jeff Song, and others). I was recently involved in a new but short-lived project called Amulet -- check out our MySpace page. Most recently, I’ve found myself jamming with Peter Prince and recording parts with Peter for Jesse Dee. In the past, I also played gigs with the brothers Bellamy (Aaron Bellamy, Luke Bellamy, and Christian Kennedy). I’ve composed and performed microtonal music with Ara Sarkissian; we participated in both Microthon concerts of the American Festival of Microtonal Music in New York and some of our music ended up on a WNYC "New Sounds" broadcast. I played on _The Komitas Project_ with Ara, Karen Kocharyan, Arvin Zarookian, and others, and have performed at Harvard University and Boston Conservatory with Ara and his groups. I played with the group Copal as well on some of their 2006-2007 gigs in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. I frequently accompanied Giancarlo Buscaglia performing latin music at his Friday Night residency at ZuZu, and have worked as a sideman for Danielle Miraglia, Hugh McGowan, Katrin Roush, Jesse Vena (now of Black Wing Halos), Janet Connerney, Deep C, Arthur Snow, Pete Spiegel, Laura Imhoff, and Mo Pair, as well as other fine singer-songwriter-bandleaders. I participated in a big "Tribute to George Harrison" concert organized by Ky Hote in NYC in December 2007. I’ve also had the pleasure of performing avant-garde jazz with acts such as Jonathan LaMaster’s Saturnalia and former Morphine drummer Jerome Deupree. A microtonal free-improv group, MAD DUXX, consisted of Gabriel Jones, "Free-range" Dave "Chicken" Allen, Brett Barbaro and myself; when I brought my microtonal guitar to Jim Mouradian for a setup, he looked at me funny and asked if we got any groupies playing that stuff (straight loco). . . . Last but not least, I play in an acoustic duo with Garo Papazian (we often allow Todd Brunel, Matt Glover, Katt Hernandez, Joe Ball, Jacob Sirois, Hannah Thiem, Gabriel Jones, and others to sit in on rehearsals; we’ve also formed part of the musical accompaniment for the Ombelico dance company). Garo, Joe, and I were hosting and performing at an open mic every Sunday at the Z bar on the Cambridge/Somerville (MA) line in Inman Square . . . this open mic is in the process of finding a new home.
Influences: Albinoni, Bach, Badings, Bloch, Chopin, Fauré, Franck, Holst, Johnston, Partch, Perotin, Ravel, Schubert, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Telemann;Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans (piano), Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin & Wood, Pat Metheny, Miracle Orchestra, Wes Montgomery, Jaco Pastorius, Cole Porter, Django Reinhardt, John Scofield;Allman Brothers Band, Area, Beatles, Jeff Buckley, Egg, Fishbone, Focus, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Gong, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Joni Mitchell, Phish, Police, Who, Stevie Wonder, Yes;Hariprasad Chaursia, Zakir Hussein, Ali Akbar Khan, Shakti;Lots of blues & metal guitar players
Sounds Like: Jeff Beck, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills & Nash, John McLaughlin, Carlos Santana, Ravi Shankar, Doc Watson
Record Label: NYCD
Type of Label: None
