"All Ages / Levels taught:

Jazz, Blues, Rock, Latin, Funk, Folk, Bluegrass, Country, Hindustani, Carnatic, Songwriting, Music Theory, Composition Lessons, Arranging, Soloing, Improvisation, Classical Technique, and much more!

I have been a professional musician all my life working in professional bands all over the world with thousands and thousands of concert performances.

I still perform as the frontman with my 7-piece Jazz standards band "7he Sep7e7" (3 horns + 4-piece rhythm section). I do every single one of the arrangements for the entire band by hand!

I have been continuously teaching music privately for more than 30 years!

I studied music, music theory, counterpoint, composition, and arranging, etc. at Moorpark Community College and at the University of Colorado under the renowned professors Paris Rutherford (Emeritus of Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas), and William Fowler (editor for DownBeat magazine and co-inventor of the Piezo pickup).

I am a published contributor to the #1 best-selling Jazz Theory book on the planet "Jazzology" (published by Hal Leonard - the world's largest music publisher), in addition to having almost 20 books published on the subject of theory and technique!

I also have many many professional recordings to my credit uploaded both on youtube and on my websites that you can listen to online anytime!

Having lived in France (3 years), Switzerland (8 years), and Spain (3 years), besides my native English, I am perfectly fluent in French, German, and Spanish, and I also can teach (and have taught many students) in those languages.

We all learn different ways. Some of us are more visual, some more tactile, some more intuitive, some more cerebral, etc. Understanding this allows me to adapt to each student's most natural mode of learning so that the material is grasped more easily (therefore more quickly), and so that it is retained longer.

I would be honored to share my musical experience and knowledge with you." less...