Originally from Long Island, New York, I moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music and spent many years living in the Boston area. I taught guitar lessons at several different locations, including music stores such as The Music Emporium, adult education centers like Minuteman Community Education, and for one year at Boston College High School. As a performer, I was the guitarist in live hip-hop band Savin ill (releasing two CDs along the way), had a stint with notable jazz musician Sonny Watson, and was a regular member of the pit band at The Company Theater.
In 2011, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and soon afterward began a career as a cruise ship musician, performing for Norwegian, Celebrity, and Princess Cruises. The video lesson company GuitarZoom contacted me to produce DVD lessons for them, and I created a course titled Blues Guitar 101. In 2015, I received my masters of music degree in jazz studies from Portland State University. I started my jazz/funk group Special Purpose a year later, playing soul jazz and funk from the 1960s and 70s through today as well as some original tunes. In 2017 I started teaching an online course about the history of rock music at Klamath Community College. I also started conducting that year, working with the Portland Youth Rock Orchestra, a youth orchestra focused on musical training and exposure to the greatest of rock and orchestral literature. I regularly perform in the Portland area with Special Purpose, jazz/pop band Idle Poets, and on solo guitar.
