A Musical Christmas

A guitar showed up under the Christmas tree one year. Why my father decided to buy it, I have no idea. Did I like it? Well, it changed everything. I started playing... and playing... and playing. I practiced until my fingers bled. I wonder to this day if my Dad ever regretted the purchase. My focus became music. Not just, any music mind you. I wanted to play JAZZ! Not sure why. It was just always that way. Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Joe Pass, Grant Green, Melvin Sparks.... those cats could play! As often happens, things didn't work out as planned. "Paying" jazz gigs were far and few in-between and typically were held down by very accomplished musicians performing at a level I had not yet reached. So, as I worked on my "jazz chops", I started gigging around the St. Louis area in "funk" bands. As things turned out, I enjoyed playing funky music as well. You can read more about my early music career on my Bio page here.