Highlights…
- Over 30 years of professional guitar-playing and teaching experience
- Currently offer guitar instruction in the Tampa Bay area to private students and at schools
- Co-author of The About.com Guide to Acoustic Guitar and The Everything Harmonica Book
- Studied music at San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco
- Studied jazz guitar with legendary guitarist Bill Connors
- Founder of the progressive jazz label Pathfinder Records
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellow
The full story…
I began learning guitar at the age of 12, playing a nylon-string Goya classical guitar. I taught myself first position chords and barre chords, and learned all my favorite popular songs.
Just five years later, I was playing guitar professionally, performing as a singer/songwriter on steel-string acoustic in clubs in Chicago. Soon after, I founded a rock band in San Francisco, where I played lead guitar and sang. For seven years, we regularly played clubs and concerts in the Bay Area.
During my time in San Francisco, I attended music school at San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco, studying music theory, music history, harmony, composition and electronic music. In addition, I studied jazz guitar for seven years with Bill Connors, the first electric guitarist in Chick Corea’s groundbreaking group Return to Forever.
At 27, I formed my first progressive jazz group. Soon after, I moved from San Francisco to New York City with that group where we performed in jazz clubs all over the city. At the same time, I was recruited as the lead guitarist in a popular New York rock band that performed regularly in major rock clubs in the New York area. During this period, I was honored to be awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Jazz Composition.
In 1982, I founded PATHFINDER RECORDS, a progressive jazz and alternative rock label. For eight years, I produced more than 25 albums for noted artists, including Bill Connors, Richie Beirach, John Abercrombie, Quest with Dave Liebman, and Lene Lovich.
While in NYC, I played with the progressive jazz band THURSDAY GROUP, as well as with rock bands REVERSE, the TRANCESENDERS and BLUESOLE.
I’m also the co-author of two music instruction books: The About.com Guide to Acoustic Guitar (Adams Media, 2006) and The Everything Harmonica Book (Adams Media, 2008).
Throughout my long career, I’ve always enjoyed making time to provide private guitar lessons to budding musicians and guitarists looking to advance their skills to the next level.
In 2007, in search of sun, fun and, of course, great music, I relocated with my wife, Gabrielle, from New York City to St. Petersburg, Florida.