To be fair to myself—and especially to my listeners—
I make no claims to excessive virtuosity on any of
these instruments. I claim only that I make
interesting and sometimes pleasant sounds. I entertain myself.
“WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU PLAY?”
I’ve always been at a loss how to answer that question.
• Mostly improvisational. My favorite thing is to play a
a chord progression I’ve never played before.
• Jazz-ish. I’m not smart enough to play real jazz.
• Spotify has helped me out with this; I stumbled onto
a playlist called “Nordic Jazz”. To my surprise, I
found myself saying, “Hey! That’s kind of like what I
play!” So there ya have it—I play like a Viking.
Everyone who grew up in a home like mine can relate to my story—
It’s rare, but by no means unique.
Mom was a classical pianist and the
church organist.
Dad was a musical prodigy.
They produced six kids.
Everyone was expected to play—
piano for starters, then a brass instrument
of your choice. And mom always hoped for
a vocal ensemble.
You were expected to play, to practice,
and to win competitions.
Classical and sacred music was playing in our home all day, every day.
No pop. NO rock.
Country was never an option; jazz was questionable.
Fifty years later, most of us are still musicians, including four Masters degrees in music (none of them mine). Most of us still play brass. But there has been a lot more divergence than originally expected. We produced one opera singer and several jazz-ish musicians. A couple of us have actually backslid all the way to rock’n’roll. And saxophones, God forbid.
Me . . . I was the trumpet player.
I possessed mediocre promise.
At least until 11th grade, when I had the
extraordinary fortune of attending Wickliffe
High School under legendary band director,
Chuck Frank, but that’s too much history for
this small space. I started college as a music
major, but wisely switched to art my junior
year. If I have any claim to fame as a trumpet
player, it is simply that I never quit. LIFE LESSON: If you stick with something
long enough and really keep working at it, you can accomplish things beyond what you originally had the right to expect.
But my real music story is that I discovered—
fairly late in life—that I have a knack for learning
new instruments. So that is what I have done.
You can see reflections of that in the videos, below,
if you so choose.
Enough talking (writing). If you want to hear brief
samples, go to the next page. I may not be held
liable for any auditory or emotional damage brought
on by listening to any of my music.
I hope to upload new samples periodically.