My Bio
I composed my first piece, “Nightime”, at the age of 6. I performed it at a recital in Conroe Texas to a standing ovation. That set the path for me for the rest of my life. In high school I played in a band called The Grapes of Wrath. We played in movie theaters and fraternity parties.
I played on Willis Alan Ramsey's first (and I think only album). I had finished my first year at University of Texas and I was in a band called Evergreen with Robert Aberg and Waller Collie. They recommended me to him. It was the first recording I ever made in a studio. I was so jazzed. It was in Tyler Texas and I rented a hotel room for the night. I think that was a first too. I had hit the big time!
I spent 4 years in Denton Texas to get a Bachelors degree in Music Composition. While studying there I joined a band called Yazoo. After Yazoo played in Evansville, Indiana, we changed three players and headed to L.A. to play a club called the Red Onion. Here's a photo of the band at that point. Gilda Medina, Ray Hair, Steve Giovenco, Jim Lacefield, Clay Jenkins, Danny Higgins, and me. Jim turned out to be my doorway into L.A. He knew all the best musicians.
After the gig with Yazoo was finished, some of the group went back to Texas while Jim Lacefield, Steve Giovenco, and I stayed in L.A. Jim got Steve a job with Willie Bobo whom he had worked with before. I drove out to Century City to see them at a club in the bottom floor of the twin towers. At this point, I had no place to spend the night. I had my bed, my dresser, and my dog, Charlie, in my International Harvester Travel All, a quite roomy vehicle. They got my parking pass stamped many times so I could stay there over night. The next day, I was hired on with Willie’s band and Steve and I rented a house on Sanborn Street in Venice, just blocks away from the ocean and next to the Grand Canal.
Willie had just released “Hell of an Act to Follow” and we started gigging around town.
We played on the final night of the Monterey Jazz Festival closing out the night with Dizzy Gilesspie. What an honor that was to play with him.
In October we got a job in San Francisco at the Boarding House on Bush street. It was my first time to visit the city and I was dazzled. In November we traveled to New York to play the Bottom Line and onto Detroit to play Baker’s Keyboard Lounge.
In 1979, I heard that Johnny Mathis was auditioning pianists and I signed up. I aced the audition and started touring with him for the next three and a half years. We toured extensively in the States and the U.K. twice. Also we made trips to Australia and New Zealand. When my second child was on the way, I decided to quit and return to L.A.
Two positions opened up to be a Musical Director for Carl Anderson, (known for his portrayal of Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar) and Gloria Loring (who portrayed the character Liz Chandler on the soap opera, Days of Our Lives). They had released a song, “Friends and Lovers” that went to number two on the charts.
At the same time as I was working with Carl and Gloria, I was teaching at first Dick Grove's Music School and then Musicians Institute where I was the department head of Keyboards from 1990 to 2000.
I was also quite active in studio recordings for records and films. Here are some of the projects in which I participated.
Films
Records
In 1993 I received a call from John Ferraro, my friend and a great drummer. He asked me if I was booked on Thursday. I said I was free that day. He asked if I would be willing to do a date with Mick Jagger. I said, “I think I can work that in.” Mick and co-producer Don Was were writing songs for the up coming release of "Voodoo Lounge" and needed to do some ruff demos. John and I were brought in to help. Mick played guitar and Don played bass.
In 2000 I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to be near my children. Carl had introduced me to the Agape Spiritual Center in L.A. They had a very vibrant music program led by Ricky Byers-Beckwith. She was writing material in all types of styles which appealed to me. When Carl was scheduled to perform at the sister center, Oakland Center for Spiritual Living, he requested to have me accompany him. The center was looking for a new band leader and offered me the job. I also began to compose new pieces for the Joy! choir at the center. From 2002 to 2013 I composed more than 40 new pieces featuring soloists in conjunction with the choir. "One Light" contains some of these songs.
Sometime between 2010 and 2011 I assembled a more commercial group to play clubs, concerts and other type gigs. I decided to call the group "Shugga" partly to be a bit sarcastic. I've been an insulin dependent diabetic for over 50 years. With the help of my best friend Helen Bernard-Gray on vocals, Jay Styne on bass, and Carrie Jahde on drums. It was somewhat of a family affair as we did commercial gigs and also worked together at OCSL on Sundays. One of our regular engagements was at a coffee shop called Cafe Trieste and later Caffe Chiave. We played once a month for several years, I liked it because it had a playable Yamaha piano and I didn't have to move any gear. We started getting quite a following and packed the place. Here's a pic of Shugga.
In May of 2018, I helped Kyra Gordon put together a show based on the music of Janis Joplin called Loving Janis. I had been working with Kyra as an accompanist for her classes at the Jazz School in Berkeley. I did some arrangements of Joplin's tunes for a four piece band. Here's a picture of the performance.
In September the next year we did another version of Loving Janis which included Janis Ian's music as well as Janis Joplin's. This time it was just the two of us and we sold out the show at Ashkenaz.
