Jazz Music

My story….

I have been fortunate in the sense that I have had a handful of mentors guide and encourage me to keep perusing what inspires me most.

Music was always an interest of mine in my formative years. From a young age, I began playing guitar and clarinet. My first introduction into learning to read music on an advanced level came about when I began taking clarinet lessons in 3rd grade. Learning classical clarinet was vital to me because I learned to read musical notation and gained a sense of how one can interpret notes on a page in many diverse ways. Once I reached high school, I picked up playing the alto and tenor saxophone. Shortly after, I began taking jazz lessons on tenor sax with an amazing educator in the D.C. area named Paul Carr.

After participating in many music programs that my school, county and state offered, I realized music was something I could consider a career in.

I decided to further my studies in music by enrolling in the Jazz Studies at Temple University. During my time at Temple, I was fortunate to have studied privately with jazz legends such as Dick Oatts and Tim Warfield Jr., as well as participate in ensembles coached by other large names in the jazz community, such as David Wong, John Swana, Elio Villafranca and Terell Stafford.

I found my time at Temple to be quite beneficial to my developing musical career. Being exposed to new opinions and ideas helped me realize that music is branch of life that represents discipline, appreciation, and self meditation.

To date, I have felt that my period of greatest growth occurred when I began to theorize musical ideas that did not pertain to note values on a page, but rather life experiences.

I try to play in a truthful manner, always keeping in mind that honesty is the ultimate goal when playing with others.

Since I left Temple, I have been playing all kinds of events and teach primarily in the Philadelphia area.

Thanks for reading about me, and I encourage you take a listen to any postings that I have on my website. If you like what you hear, feel free to let me know!