|
I was born in Montreal in 1980, but spent all of my childhood on Prince Edward Island. The first music I can remember listening to was the Beatles red and blue compilations which I still love. When I was about seven, my parents signed me up for piano lessons. I was a mediocre student and a dismal sight reader, but I loved tinkering away at the piano for hours. When I was eleven my older brother Andrew took up the guitar. He had a twelve string acoustic, but desperately wanted an electric. My parents wanted to make sure he'd stick with the instrument before they got him a second guitar. Andrew, however, had a plan. He convinced me to ask for an electric for Christmas. I had no idea how to play or even whether I wanted to play, but I went along with it. From the moment we went to pick out my first guitar, I fell in love with the instrument. In high school I discovered jazz and I joined a latin/jazz band called Los Guapachosos. That group helped me get my chops together to go study jazz at the university level. After completing a Bachelor of Music at McGill, I decided to go to teacher's college and turn my music degree into some marketable skills.
Since then, I've had the opportunity to play with some great musicians including Pat Labarbera, Kevin Dean, Phil Woods, and the late Doug Riley. I finished a Masters degree in Music at McGill in 2005, and I have been teaching music and high school math for the past few years.
On the personal side, I got married to my wonderful wife Jannah five years ago. We now live in Charlottetown, PEI and are both making a go of it on the Island. I'm involved in a few projects these days including session work in a variety of styles, jazz gigs whenever I can get them, and a group with Glen Strickey, Alan Dowling, and Paul Vienneau. I'm playing as much as I can (check the performance schedule), so if you're in the neighbourhood come around and say hi.
Here are a few of the people I have played or recorded with:
|