Musical Biography

The core of my musical career has been spent playing thousands of weddings, casinos, club dates, bar mitzvahs, musical theater runs, and corporate events.

By the age of 25, I was fortunate to play classical music with some of the world's foremost ensembles, conductors, and artists, including the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, the Bolshoi Ballet, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Andre Watts, Gary Graffman, and numerous others.

Later, during many years in Los Angeles, I played drums and percussion for various television shows and for dozens of independent films, some of which I also scored. During this time, I also played for and recorded with many independent rock, country, and progressive bands, none of which "broke through" to wider recognition.

I am also a recording producer and engineer, with multiple independent album releases to my name.

A drum sampling session that I produced, recorded, and played on was used for the core sounds of one of the most popular electronic drum modules on the market today.

My significant teachers have included Vic Firth and Frank Epstein at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which I received a Bachelor's degree in classical percussion; Swapan Choudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music, where I spent a fantastic year studying tabla drumming; and Roger Allen, my foundational teacher in my hometown of Portland, Oregon.

As of 2011, I have lived in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. These days, I mostly play jazz, rock, R&B, and country music.