Sometimes an idea grabs hold of you and catches your imagination at a young age .
Little do you know at the time that this new found love will shape the rest of your life; taking you to amazing places, introducing you to lifelong friends, and defining your journey to come. For me, I was lucky that this love was music, and more specifically, the electric guitar.
For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with the instrument. The look, the sound, the music. All of it. I vividly remember taking mail order guitar catalogs to school, pouring over the pages of instruments, and circling ones that caught my eye.
Years later, this love remains as strong today as it was decades ago. From playing major gigs in front of thousands in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park and Grant Park, to sold out shows at legendary venues like Eddie’s Attic, to playing festivals like ColaJazz Fest and the SC Jazz Festival, the guitar has taken me all over the country. I have been fortunate to perform on stage with such artists as Wycliffe Gordon, Quentin Baxter (drummer from the Grammy winning Ranky Tanky), and Michael Dease, and share the stage with performers including the late Butch Trucks (drummer of the Allman Bros. Band), the late Col. Bruce Hampton, and many others that have shaped my journey.
Recently I moved back to Columbia, South Carolina to further dedicate myself to the instrument by enrolling at the University of South Carolina to study Jazz Performance at a graduate level. There I have studied guitar, improvisation, and theory with Bert Ligon, Dr. Matt White and Dr. Colleen Clark, and attend masterclass lessons with Peter Bernstein, Jonathan Kreisberg, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Jeff Coffin, and many other incredible artists. Currently, I lead jazz trios performing my original music, pop covers, as well as jazz standards, and will be releasing a duo album with Tony Lee entitled Still in the fall of 2023