BIO

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I'm from Jersey City, NJ, and had the good fortune to be a teenager in the New York City area in the late 1960s, when it was simply exploding with music. (My first concert was the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Soft Machine in April 1968 in Newark NJ). I first took up the electric bass in 1969, and by 1970, was playing around the area in an excellent local band. From 1972-77, I studied upright bass at Jersey City State College with Frank Lomolino (NJ Symphony), at Roosevelt University (Chicago) with Harold Siegel, and composition with Robert Lombardo.  After finishing my music studies, and three years on the road in US and Canada, I completed my EE degree in 1983, and began a 32 year career in networking technology, moving to the Northwest in 1986, all the while playing rock, jazz, and classical music with different ensembles in the NY/NJ and Seattle areas. I've also done arrangements of classical and pop works for brass ensemble.

I retired from technology work in 2014, and decided to go back and explore the aspect of music composition, something that I tinkered with in college, but never fully realized. And, so...here I am.

My songwriting influences come from keyboardists  like Tony Banks, Thys Van Leer, Kerry Minnear, and other 'progressive' rock keyboardists whose use of harmony, melody, and voice-leading may be complex, but always accessible, and always interesting. I also freely incorporate classical music phrases and motifs into my work, and give full acknowledgement to the original composer where I do.

In terms of equipment, the basses I play are by Fender, Rickenbacker, Kinal, F-Bass, and Nash. I use Markbass, Eden, and Ashdown amps. The sound libraries I use are by Apple, M-Tron, Korg, Yamaha, BBC Spitfire, Cherry Audio, and Superior Drummer.