I am currently playing with Ikebe Shakedown, an Afro-funk band based in Brooklyn, NY. We just released our debut EP and 45rpm record "Hard Steppin'" (the first track on my page is off of this album) recorded at Dunham Studios and released on Colemine Records. I'm also playing in The Dust Bowl Band in the Hudson Valley. We play a wide variety of musical styles including blues, jazz, folk, country, rock 'n roll and more.

I am currently living near Rhinebeck, NY and am offering guitar lessons in the mid- Hudson Valley area. Please see the lessons page of my website for more information.

I have been playing guitar ever since my parents gave me my first guitar and lesson for my tenth birthday in 1995. I also studied piano, which I in fact began before guitar, and I play some electric bass as well. But guitar has been my main focus for several years now. I began playing numerous styles - but especially remember playing a lot of blues as well as Beatles songs - studying with Jan Nigro (singer/songwriter/ community musician and director of the Vitamin L Chorus), who was an excellent first teacher. After several years, I studied a variety of styles for a year or so with Chris Woodard. From here I decided to delve into the realm of classical guitar, being particularly enthralled by the compositions of contemporary classical guitarist and composer Andrew York. I studied classical guitar with Doug Esmond and Linda Chellouf, both graduate students at Ithaca College. After studying classical for 2 years, I decided that I wanted to learn more jazz. I began by taking a few lessons with professor Steve Brown at Ithaca College. Since this time, I have continued to study jazz guitar. I graduated from Bard College in 2007, where I double-majored in music and biology, focusing on jazz and ecology within those fields. I took jazz courses at Bard with pianist John Esposito and tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay - both superb musicians, as well as great teachers. I took jazz guitar lessons with Peter Einhorn for 2 years and subsequently studied my junior and senior year of college with Mike DeMicco (of the Brubeck brothers quartet, in addition to his own projects), who I learned so much from.

There are several groups that I previously played with - both in the Ithaca, NY area where I am from, as well as in the Hudson Valley. In Ithaca I played for many years with (and released an album with) Non-Existent, playing original high-energy jazz-funk with horn driven melodies. I also performed and recorded with Dirac, playing a mix of funk, rock, and jazz. Keep an eye out for reunion shows as they do happen every once in a while. The Blue Lemons are another Ithaca area group that I have been a member of. In the Hudson Valley, I formerly played in the now defunct group The Brilliant Corners, a quartet playing original jazz-funk as well as jazz standards, some of the members of which kept playing together and formed Ikebe Shakedown.