I have been a percussion educator and performer for over 30 years in the Washington DC area and currently teach private lessons online, as well as student residences.  My teaching focuses on classical, jazz and popular music studies and I mentor many students in ensemble performance as well. 

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I started drumming at the age of nine in school concert bands, as well as marching drum & bugle corps. I studied big band drumming during and after high school for a 3-year period, eventually enrolling at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where I majored in Percussion Performance. While in Boston, I continued my studies with Fred Budha, the percussionist for the Boston Pops, as well as Alan Dawson, the famous Jazz drummer/instructor; Joe Hunt, the drummer who played with Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim in their 1960’s Bossa Nova Jazz ensemble and Bob Gulotti, Percussionist for the Avant-Garde Jazz Band, The Fringe.

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I toured the New England and Canadian provinces with the Brian Tracy Orchestra, a performing show and dance band from New Hampshire. I was also the house drummer at the Willow Jazz Club in Boston and played with many great touring jazz artists in the early 1980’s.

 

In the mid 80’s I toured with Pacific Orchestra, an all-original Reggae/Ska band out of Key West, traveling with many of the great Reggae bands out of Jamaica. This band recorded on both RAS Records with the famed Riddim Twins, Sly & Robbie and Landslide Records with Eddy Offord, Producer of 311, Yes, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I also played with Mama Jama out of Annapolis, MD, which specialized in Reggae, Soca and Afro-Pop music styles. 

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I moved back to the DC area in the early 90’s and started playing with area Americana “roots” style bands: Blues, Country, Rockabilly, R&B, New Orleans Marching and Dixieland Bands, as well as Jazz, Latin and Big Bands. I also play in pit orchestras for local high school productions when the occasion arises. I currently perform with many area artists/groups, both as a member and freelancer and have collaborated with many singer-songwriters, relishing in the creative process. I have recorded extensively in many of these genres and look forward to all inquiries for future projects.

 

I continue to study privately in different musical genres as well, with local and national instructors and am also involved in local and national percussion clinics, when time permits.

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