my interest in music began with my father. like me, my dad is a musician (he plays saxophone and clarinet), which i guess why directly or even indirectly i'm a musician now.
i've been an active musician from the age of 12 when i began playing the alto saxophone. when i arrived in my late teens i got deep into john coltrane and miles davis. coltrane was the catalyst and inspiration for me beginning to play the tenor saxophone and i still continue to play alto saxophone because that is where this all began.
i attended the school of music at bowling green state university and studied classical saxophone under dr. john sampen and improvisation / jazz under jay miglia and gunnar mossblad. to say that the ecm sound has had an enormous influence on my music would be an understatement. jay introduced me to the ecm sound via keith jarrett and jan garbarek and from there i discovered even more ecm records on my own; terje rypdal, kenny wheeler, ralph towner, bill frisell, and paul motian all became my teachers.
although those many musicians have had a hand in sculpting my music and musical interests, the musician and artist i must thank and credit for my pursuance of solo playing is trumpeter bill dixon. before hearing bill dixon i was always wondering about and yearning for a simpler, more lonely and desolate kind of music outside of what i was playing in bands. that all changed for me when i heard the album "collection" which is an album of dixon's solo trumpet music. after hearing it i realized what i had to do and began to model my solo songs and my sound after what i had heard on "collection".
even though i'm not widely known or widely understood, i now feel that i'm finally playing in a style and form (or anti-form if you will) all my own. i have eight albums out to date. just click on 'albums' to view and purchase...if the mood strikes you
MB