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BIOGRAPHY Briefly then, I grew up in two places, Worcester, MA, where I came under the influence of two uncles, very fine musicians, and New Braintree, where my family owned and operated a dairy farm and where I spent many a childhood afternoon experiencing the joys of musical discovery on what I remember to be a homemade, all-metal guitar with a banjo neck that I'd found in my uncle's cellar. After awhile, my mother noticed that I was able to play some music on that metal guitar and decided to invest $20.00 in a Stella student acoustic guitar. This was a big improvement, also a lot better. I quickly outfitted this guitar with a DeArmond pickup and soon found myself performing publicly with musicians and singers usually much older than myself. Shortly after that, my uncle who saw that I was making, "professional gigs" in the Worcester area allowed me to borrow indefinitely, his 1952 Les Paul. I was in heaven. My first band was a great little band; I still remember fondly how good I thought we sounded. We played instrumental music exclusively, a lot of Ventures covers, etc. At school dances, church functions, etc. I'd also attempt an unaccompanied solo from time to time. My interest in Jazz was piqued when I borrowed guitarist Barney Kessel's, "Easy Like" from the library. I found myself learning a lot of that recording by ear. I especially liked his version of, "That's All." Around this time, it was suggested to me that I check out a local guitarist who worked downtown at a club called the Pecan Lounge. I'll leave the details of this establishment to your imagination. Needless to say, I was impressed by this musician, who's name I can't remember, mainly because he sounded like my Kessel record. When I asked him to talk about the specifics of his playing, he said to me, in a gin soaked voice, "that's Christian music!" I had a hard time making the connection between this style of music and organized religion. It was years later, while riding on Wayne Cochran's band bus, that I realized that what he meant was Charlie Christian's music. Also, during this time, I made it a point to tune into a Jazz program on PBS hosted by Herb Pomeroy that featured the giants of Jazz live in studio. I was able to hear Wes, Monk, Oscar Peterson and many others not only performing, but being interviewed. It was on this program that I first heard the Gary Burton Quartet with Larry Coryell. After two years at Berklee, a complex series of events jump started what was the beginning of my professional career when I replaced Al Silvestri as the guitarist with Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders. Al, as those of you who watch movies might know, has become an a-list film score composer with credits like Forrest Gump and Romancing the Stone. I hear that he even owns his own plane. Wayne's band was a hugely influential fourteen piece Jazz/R+B adventure that was written about extensively in, "Jaco Pastorius, The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of..." By Bill Milkowski. Being a member of this band for over a year afforded me the opportunity to play great music six nights a week and to realize that I actually might be able to make a living at this. I remember how supportive they all were as I was a little green at the beginning. After a stint with Sammy Davis, Jr., I landed in Miami and basically stayed put for the next ten years. This was an exciting and stimulating time and has been referred to as the, "Golden Age of Miami Music." During this time, I worked steadily and learned a great deal, playing alongside Jaco Pastorius, Gil Goldstein, Ira Sullivan, Joe Diorio and many others. Those who were in Miami at the time are still amazed at the confluence of talent. Pat Metheny, Bruce Hornsby, Danny Gottlieb, Mongo Santamaria, Mark Egan, Steve Morse, Blue Mitchell and many others helped to create a vibrant environment. For the past twenty years or so, I've been involved in college level Jazz education, first at U-Mass/Amherst and since 1989 as a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Teaching gives me the opportunity to share the knowledge and insights that I've accumulated over the years, as well as to be inspired by some of the best young musicians in the world. During this time, I've been a member of the faculty Jazz Guitar Ensemble (A.K.A. the Bebop Guitars) and I've edited and recorded educational material for the Advance Music Co. (Key Jazz rhythms, by Fred Lipsius.)