Bio

Hometown:

Richmond, VA

I love all kinds of music: prog-rock, 40's big band, classical. I played brass for about 10 years and then picked up guitar - never was all that great, but I guess my background as a musician gives me a certain angle as a listener. Basically, if the musicians have good chops, I like it. I inherited my big sister's LP collection in the mid-70's and nurtured a fondness for rock: Heart, Doobies, Zep. Then a high-school friend introduced me to Judas Priest, Budgie, Rush, to name a few. During college, I continued my prog-rock love and added Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, King's X, Dokken/Lynch. During the 90's, a friend turned me onto Dream Theater - wow. This rekindled the Steve Morse and other prog stuff. By 2000+ I was throwing in newer prog stuff and here we are - prog is alive and well!
All along my tastes have widened and I have added to my classical and jazz/big-band collection. In the classical genre Mozart is the king by far and away, with some Haydn and Beethoven in there; the classical masters are what I seem to appreciate the most. In terms of jazz and big-band, there's a lot I seem to like: the 40's classics like Satchmo, Count, Duke, Woody, Harry James, Maynard. I do like the charted stuff better than pure improv that goes a little too far astray for my tastes. On the Jazz side: Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, Davis. I really like the sweet vocal stuff of the 40's too: Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Ella, Satchmo, Sarah Vaughan. Good Stuff. Let me know if any of this resonates with you, too!