"A truly original sound...demands attention..." - Jay Collins (OneFinalNote.com)

Spring 2010 Quarterly

It’s been a while since my last letter, but with the spring and a new website, I am feeling the “need for the new.”  Many think that the music known as jazz needs some new ideas but I think that perhaps it is a different perspective that might be in order and for me it comes from an old source.

My most inspirational teacher was not a musician; it was my high school English Literature teacher and his name was Emil Maras. He was the first teacher to speak to me about achieving greatness and he was the first to point out that being great at something was not possible without an intense personal relationship with what you were doing.  Command was not enough.  Being only glib or clever was the same as being lazy.  Being real and communicating a deep personal involvement in the subject was what really mattered. You had to elicit EMPATHY from what you wrote for him and he wanted YOU in that writing.  I have not been to many music classes (in Schools) that demanded the students project an involved and distinctive personality in the subject matter.  Read more...

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Fall 2006 Quarterly

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"One of the finest mainstream/modern players we have..." - Robert Iannopollo (Cadence Magazine)