ABOUT
If you are like me, and music is essential to your life's well-being, welcome, friend!
For me, music is all about relationships, sharing positive energy, stepping outside my comfort zone, giving my best, and trying to make the world a better place.
I love soulful vocal and instrumental music with catchy melodies and hooks, well-crafted arrangements, and deft improvisation. I deeply resonate with insightful, and provocative lyrical messages about love and loss, or that tackles thorny social and political issues.
Mostly, I enjoy powerful music that not only moves our bodies but opens our eyes, brings us joy, connects and unites us, and inspires our very core, which serves a higher purpose, more than just entertainment alone.
My musical journey.
I'm grateful to have 45 years of playing acoustic and electric guitars and over 30 years of professional experience as a guitarist, composer, singer-songwriter, producer, and music educator. I enjoy performing many guitar genres, including blues, rock, metal, grunge, indie, folk, singer-songwriter, country, Americana, RNB, funk, jazz, fusion, Latin, world, Afrobeat, reggae, Irish, and pop.
Here are some exceptional musicians and artists I have enjoyed performing with.
These include Billy Johnson (Santana, Maze), Joey Calderazzo (Branford Marsalis), Celso Alberti (Steve Windward), Daryl Johnson (The Neville Brothers, Emmy Lou Harris, Daniel Lanois), Francis Polo (Caracas Symphony Orchestra), Gary Brown (Dione Warwick), Graham Hawthorn (David Bern), Greg Rahn (Elvin Bishop), George Brooks (Etta James, Albert Collins), Steve Evans (Eric Gales), Frank Martin (Sting, Stevie Wonder), Emedin Rivera (Harry Bellefonte), John Halbleib (John Lee Hooker), Rob Aries (John Scofield), Dane Bryant (Clint Black, Dolly Parton), Derrek Phillips (Gloria Gaynor, Charlie Hunter), David Marin (Natalie Cole), Luis Espaillat (Lee Ann Womack, Gavin Degraw), Omari Neville, Joel Rosenblatt (Spyro Gyra) Tommy Bose (Tower of Power) Walter Wolfman Washington, and many other talented musicians, singers, songwriters, and producers.
When I was a kid.
I remember listening to music from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchel, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Allman Brothers, Black Sabbath, The Clash, The Ramones, Van Halen, Dire Straits, Steely Dan, The Talking Heads, The Moody Blues, Billy Joel, Foreigner, Grover Washington Jr., Bobby Blue Bland, Ritchie Havens, Stravinsky, Debussy, Pachelbel, blaring through the walls of my Westchester NY suburban two bedroom apartment during grade school, acting as my first musical teachers before I first plucked the guitar strings at age 11.
Back then, I didn't just listen to music for hours and hours alone and with my friends. I lived for music. Music was my passion, obsession, and lifeline to freedom, rebellion, honesty, and truth–even a connection to the divine. Music profoundly impacts me, piercing my soul and providing me with great enjoyment, discipline, confidence, and purpose.
Forty years later, I remain mesmerized by the power, energy, and sound of songs, solos, performances, artists, and lyrical messages.
Without sounding corny or hyperbole, music saved my life!
What an amazing and challenging journey I've been on. At 50-something my singer-songwriting career is starting to blossom!
From the time I began rocking out in garage bands with my teenage friends in the 80s, I devoted myself to learning guitar techniques and styles, crafting songs and lyrical messages, growing my live performance and recording experience in NYC area clubs and studios, working with world-class musicians and industry professionals.
What now seems like a lifetime ago, in 1997, I was awarded a BFA in Music Studio Composition from SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY. Ever since, I've worked hard to improve and absorb the mechanics and beauty of music-making, growing an enormous sense of personal fulfillment and joy that nurtures my life and music career today.
I aim to keep this musical ride, my life passion, going.
If you just found me and my music or are an old friend, I invite you to stick around and join my musical journey. I'm just getting started and excited to release more vital heartfelt music with the world.
If you’re enjoying my music please share it with your family and friends.
Let's empower one another and prosper together!
Thank you for your support…
What an astounding life journey we are on together.
Music is such a powerful medium. It can change our moods and perceptions. Like its shapeless form, music has no boundaries of age, race, intellect, or belief system. A single uniting sound can transcend all forms of prejudice. By participating in a musical activity, you are spiritually, psychologically, and mentally rewarded with a sharper lens to uncover life-changing new possibilities now exposed in plain sight.
