ABOUT ME

I was born in Santa Cruz, CA where I lived until the age of 18 when I moved to Los Angeles to attend University of Southern California and pursue music professionally. Since then, I teach private drum lessons and play professional gigs and do studio recordings.

EXPERIENCE

My passion for drumming started at the age of 11. I found rhythm in my everyday life. I drummed on anything and everything including phonebooks, pots, pans and practice pads. When I turned 12, I bought my first drum set which was funded partially by selling my beloved Nintendo.  I practiced like mad, never taking for granted how cool it was to have a drum set in the house. I started playing gigs with my dad by the age of 13. We played bars, weddings, private parties, and cruise ships. We played a wide variety of styles but found myself playing a lot of Brazilian and jazz which was my Dad's specialty.  I then started gigging around all over Santa Cruz throughout my high school years. I was a member of the Santa Cruz County Honors Jazz Band and the Cabrillo College jazz ensembles.

After high school, I was accepted into the USC Jazz Studies program. After a semester studying Jazz, I decided that I wanted to branch out and play other styles of music. I graduated USC in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in the Music Industry Program.

After college I began teaching and playing full time. I’ve taught for Greyson’s Music, Dietz Bros Music, The Young Musicians Performance Academy, RocKamp(summer music program), Turning Point School as well as having my own private teaching practice. I currently play with Extra Lives and Purple Sugar. Previous projects include: Buddhist Monkey, Vertices, Ill-Funk Nation, Don McCloskey, Latch Key Kid, SlackString, Wade Egan, Mo’Chi, Golden Ratio, Deep Sleep Ops, West Coast Energy Wave, Swami Yeti  and You Were Great Last Night to name a few. I’ve done tours on the East and West Coast. I've had the pleasure of playing on tour opening up for the Wailers (Bob Marley's band) on the west coast. I’ve also done some major label recording for Capitol Records.

I’ve always had a soft spot for groove heavy music such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder.  I love Funk, Soul, Reggae, Hip-Hop and any thing that is good soulful music! Below are musicians that have influenced me over the years.

DRUMMERS:
Tony Williams
Stewart Copeland (Police)
David Garibaldi (Tower of Power)
Vinnie Colaiuta
Zigaboo Modaliste (Meters)
?uestlove (Roots)
Carlton Barret (Bob Marley)
Steve Gadd
Paulo Braga
Bernard Purdie
Clyde Stubblefield and other drummers of James Brown
Ash Soan
Jeff Pocaro
Chris Dave
Brian Blade
Nate Smith
James Gadson
Elvin Jones
Zoro
Stanton Moore
Max Roach

ARTISTS:
The Police
Steely Dan
The Meters
James Brown
Bob Marley
Stevie Wonder
Miles Davis
Tower of Power