"My live and recorded works are engaging, spiritual, therapeutic, endorphin-generating, and relevant – in essence, my lifeblood in the form of sound and expression. I love making music, and I’ve loved doing so for as long as I can remember – from standing in shadow of my family’s home stereo and emulating my favorite performers, learning how to perform and emote on my instruments in grade school, falling in love with composing and recording music in my teens, and producing my first original compositions in college. As a music professional, I proudly rely and recline in piles of gear, expressive sweat and drumstick dust, touching and agreeing with other like-minded individuals, as we share the continuing mission of interacting with those we’ve approached, engaged, and entranced with our art. Those ephemeral musical moments shared with the community are the reasons why I give and live. I care about the music. I care about my collaborators. People value my contribution, and I respect and value them.

I feel a great deal of responsibility in my continuing role as a music creator, educator, and working musician – striving continually to pursue positive, lasting relationships and work imprints – with the souls that I assist, entertain, and influence. I was blessed at an early age to have significant influencers in my life – constantly lending their time, resources, and vast knowledge – affecting the way I express and execute artistically. Because much was freely given to me, I try to reciprocate in kind – as both contributor and servant/ leader – to those I’m tasked to engage, as well as entertain. I keep a plaque in my office that describes what I love and live to do: create.

That creation takes on a life within itself, that generates interest and is set to spark additional creativity, whether I’m in the room performing it or not.

My use of words, chord voicing and melody, metric shifts, the arrangement of vocal harmony and instrumental orchestration, atmospheric ornamentation have a certain weight, sequence, and feel. Sometimes I am very regimented and organized in my choices in instrumentation and technique – assured in my predeterminations of color and atmosphere, shape, scope, and shade… and more often I’m creatively relaxed, imaginatively free and uninhibited – with no sense of rhyme, reason, or type – inspired by a word, phrase, deed, temperament, or source of creative influence from a greater continuum.

My creative expedition has been built upon numerous lasting leitmotifs – forged from concentrated instruction, influence, and the reiterations of the meaningful studies of art as expression – forged over my lifetime.

When I work with my students, I am reminded that I’m still in the process of learning, myself. Sure, I may be further along than them in certain apparent respects, but they’re a constant reminder that I, too, am still searching and researching my craft. 

I begin a piece by listening – to the needs of the song, client, or concept. If I’m being attentive and considerate to that need, the workflow is more harmonious.   

I know my creations are complete, when they’re back from mastering and duplication – relevant, relatable, and readily available for the masses. They won’t leave the workspace, otherwise.

When my work is going well, I am filled with a sense of peace and purpose. When I’m on the right track, I get goose bumps – without exception, without fail. I have always been vocal about that feeling with my collaborators; overtime, they’ve learned to trust it. That simple, unassuming physical manifestation of creative correctness has never led me wrong.

When people listen to my work, I'd like them to experience the sensations I have when I create or perform it – no, I want them to have an even greater experience.

I simply want success: for the creative work, the artist in training or in-process, the listener, the consumer, and my family. If the achievement is realized, everybody wins."