About Me
I have been wicked all my life. To see me coming towards you you'd never suspect the evil that lurks within. If you meet the qualifications I might just let you escape!
I started my music training on piano at age four. I began viloin lessons at eight and accordian at nine. Got my first horns, clarinet and saxophone, at nine and at ten got my first guitars. I started my professional career at age eleven playing violin at fine dining spots, at twelve I played with professional big band at the 'Concordia Club' and joined my first rock and roll band, 'The Chambrays' at thirteen. I recieved the highest academic achievments in both band and orchestra in high school making All State Bands and Orchestras every year. At fifteen I joined the first band I was in to get signed to a major label. The group was "The Hard Times," after the Dickens novel, and we were signed to Cameo-Parkway records of Phiadephia, PA, and our producer was the infamous Chubby Checker. Our first release called 'Loosing You,' an original, was engineered by Terry Knight of "Terry Knight and the Pack.' We were managed by The Lowery Group of Atlanta, Ga., and booked by Premier Talent of NYC and Creative Artists Agency of Los Angeles, CA., and toured extensively while going to Woodlawn High in Birmingham, AL. We got to play such great venues as I started my music training on piano at age four. I began viloin lessons at eight and accordian at nine. Got my first horns, clarinet and saxophone, at nine and at ten got my first guitars. I started my professional career at age eleven playing violin at fine dining spots, at twelve I played with professional big band at the 'Concordia Club' and joined my first rock and roll band, 'The Chambrays' at thirteen. I recieved the highest academic achievments in both band and orchestra in high school making All State Bands and Orchestras every year. At fifteen I joined the first band I was in to get signed to a major label. The group was "The Hard Times," after the Dickens novel, and we were signed to Cameo-Parkway records of Phiadephia, PA, and our producer was the infamous Chubby Checker. Our first release called 'Loosing You,' an original, was engineered by Terry Knight of "Terry Knight and the Pack.' We were managed by The Lowery Group of Atlanta, Ga., and booked by Premier Talent of NYC and Creative Artists Agency of Los Angeles, CA., and toured extensively while going to Woodlawn High in Birmingham, AL. We got to play such great venues as The Whiskey A-GoGo in LA, Cheatas in NYC and the Action House in Miami. We opened for and backed up many great groups and I made my first real connections in the music business most of which have lasted to this day. When I was seventeen I met probably the most important influence of my adult music career Mr Frank Zappa. He played at the Oporto Amory in Birmingham and me and a dozen musician friends of mine were the only people that showed up. The opening group was 'Lothar and the Hand People' and they had the first Moog synthesizers I'd ever seen. They looked like phone patch boards for a city of about 10,000 people and four technicians just change the patches for the players. I was truly impressed. It was great and I made another friend that just by knowing him made me a greater person in the world of music. At his request I went to see him in NYC a few months later and in the few months I was able to hang I got to hear and meet the best musicians that have ever lived: Hendrix, Ringo, Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, etc. After I had to go back home to join my next touring group Frank and I stayed in touch until he died. Next came 'Chair' another Birmingham group and due to a grounded flight out of NYC we got signed to Warner Bros for a two year, four single two LP contract and again handled by Premier Talent of NYC. I left for San Francisco after two years and because of connections I'd earned along the way was able to just walk right in to the recording industry there. The first big group I worked with from SF was 'The Quiksliver Messenger Service' booked by Bill Graham Presents, who I worked for for the next decade, and I played with them for nearly two years and recorded with many artists and performed with other bands when not on tour. My good friends Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux that I'd lived and worked with joined the Grateful Dead and I did A and R work for their record company for the first year and again made some of the finest connections in the busness and friends for life. All this time I was playing every night with different artists and got to work with great like Vince Garauldi, Maynerd Fergueson, John Lee Hooker, Michael Narda Walden, Sammy Hagar, Jerry Garcia, Lenny Pickett, and many more. I was heard playing in a music store while trying out horns and thta night started working with Eddie Money. I've worked on and off with Ed since and we see each other any time we're on the same end of the country. Mostly these days I work on my live music presentation for Time/Warner called Max Sax. I go into different venues all around the country, mostly regional and tape groups live to promote live music and the groups. I've been on air since 1992 and since I play with so many different artists in so many different places I'm almost always performing with the groups I record. It's a lot of fun and helps get a lot of attention to the live music scene. A nice way to pay back the gifts that I've recieved. the last couple of years I've been concentrating on recording young artists in my all digital audio/video studio where I have 24 tracks of Mackie HD recording unit and Newtek's Video toaster which I build, repair and sell. I do about twenty concerts a year still and most recently with my old buddy Willie King and extrordinary blues artist from Alabama. I enjoy most of all teaching the art and business of music to those that seek it. It gives me great joy to share that that has given me so much love in my life! I am at your service!
