My musical adventures have been fueled by love and interest as a perpetual student/explorer of the beauty of rhythm, notes and words in their infinite combinations. Every culture, every tonal variation, every era, it’s all for the attunement, entraining of the human tribe and the environment. That was the job of the original musicians-the shaman of the tribe to get everybody to move to the same rhythm, attune to the same frequency, to exist in the moment. That is what music does at it’s purest. When the intent is not polluted by a marketing target. The way Mozart or the Beatles music seems to purify the air. Muddy Waters or James Brown creates warmth and energy. John Coltrane’s music comforts yet raises intellectual and creative energy. The spiritual meditative quality of much eastern music. The pure joy and sadness of eastern European music. Flamenco raises a warrior/lover passion. Each music has it’s connection to a source which we all benefit from when we connect to it. That is the shamanism in music. Much of it is lost due to the fact that we are so inundated with music all day, every day. People don’t really listen and live in the moment with it. The experience is more just a mood. Like candy or a cigarette. Too much of anything………..That is a result of a capitalist society. Not gonna start crying about that now.
My tenure with Warner/Chappell publishing as a songwriter helped me develop my pop songwriting chops in a big way. But the quality was often constricted by a marketing intent.
My love for music is in it’s power as a healer, as an architect for good, for the personal path of knowledge and growth it has provided for me. It is endless and I am so thankful.
I have studied music with some amazing teachers and musicians. Have taken the time to learn from the recordings and words of the greatest musicians I can find. I love to record music and play with sculpting sound that can be reproduced the same way every time. However, my main interest in music is in the improvisational moment. The absolute truth of the coming together of all elements of the moment interpreted as truthfully as possible at lightspeed for the sake of a coming together of humans. That for me requires songs as well. Songs provide the point A and point B. The travel space in between A-B is often the place where pure magic happens and I live for that. I don’t care if I am playing for 200,000 people of 2 people. I approach it with same intensity. If an audience is throwing the energy back to me it only intensifies. I love that feeling of exhilaration. I gotta say- walking onto a stage in front of a huge audience is an addictive adrenaline high. I miss it at the moment.
I have played, recorded and toured with Blues greats Eddie Kirkland, Carrie Belle, Nappy Brown, Zorah Young, and Toni Lynne Washington among others. I love the opportunity to play side man to a great artist coming up with the appropriate parts and sounds to make them sound good.
I’ve played as a band leader in large and small venues all across the U.S and most major cities in Europe. I especially love playing in Eastern Europe and Spain. Most of the time I play with pick up bands when in Europe. The eastern European and Spanish musicians really can play and have a huge cultural palette to draw from. I really want to play in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America.
Two of my five albums are on CDbaby.com and itunes .com
I have many videos on youtube.com
My current interest is in making great live DVD recordings. I think the CD album is a fading format. That said I have several new recording projects that are almost finished. I am writing music more for performance with acoustic instruments. But my love of groove and rhythmic conversation is only stronger. I try to play with the best musicians I can find. We are magicians of time-and I only want to play with musicians who are evolved in that way.