Music

Music is a big part of my life. I've spent a ton of hours locked away in a funny farm... uh hum... I mean a practice room. Mom and Dad started me out playing piano when I was 8 years old. It went fine, with the occassional temper tantrum being thrown because I'd rather play outside than practice the piano.

Around the time I was 12, it was readily becoming apparent that I was starting to fizzle out and lose interest in music. Soon after that, knowing that playing music was better for me than not, my folks found me a good jazz piano teacher. Knowing that Jazz was probably much more fun than Classical, I agreed. So the lessons began.

I soon figured out that Jazz was a whole study unto it's own. Ouch! #^%# Yes. It was frustrating at times...and still is. The difference now is that I view it as a process; a never-ending one. That's the beauty of it all.

I've studied with 3 different pianists by now, and a couple of wonderful band directors, each of whom are still influential in my musical endeavors. While at Chabot College I studied with Frank Sumares who has a web site as well at www.uncafunck.com. I also had the pleasure of working with him for several years playing piano at Kuleto's/Villa Florence Hotel in San Francisco.

After finishing my AA at Chabot, I went on to Cal State Hayward where I studied Business/Marketing and Music. Playing with the CSUH Jazz Ensemble continued to further my growth as a musician. While there I had the good fortune to get to play with such guests as the saxophonist Micheal Brecker and bigband drummer Louie Bellson. These experiences proved invaluable...not to mention a ton of fun!

While at CSUH I also had the opportunity to record a CD with the big band. The recording These Times was voted as one of the nationÕs top six collegiate jazz CDs of 1995 in DownBeat Magazine. The actual recording itself was a ton of work as it required quite a bit of preparation. In addition, I was responsible for painting the artwork to be used on the CD cover.

Today I'm in the process of trying to be a pianist, not just a jazz pianist. It's taken a while for me to see that Jazz and Classical are not really all that different in the end-contrary to public opinion. The similarities are profound. I'm not going to go into any of them at this point because a whole web-site could be dedicated to just this topic alone. However, music is a life-long study and denying either Jazz or Classical is doing your musical education a disservice. There's a lot to miss if you're a musical snob. But, alas, if you're a Classical or Jazz buff...you're probably a snob anyway so it doesn't matter. Isn't music just great?