For those who might be interested, here’s the “long story”…

My musical life began when I picked up the trumpet while in grade school. Being fortunate, my family was very supportive in this, and in fact had its own musical history: my mother sang, my father played guitar and my grandparents played banjo and fiddle, and had their own band called Willie & the Nightowls., I continued with the trumpet, and eventually went on to study Jazz at the Manhattan School of Music (NY) and William Paterson University (NJ).

During this period I was involved in a number of diverse projects, playing everything from jazz to salsa, classical to world music. We appeared in clubs & coffee houses, gave recitals and did a world-premiere concert with the Wayne (NJ) Chamber Orchestra at Lincoln Center in NYC. It was a great time to be studying and playing, and there were some very gifted artists to learn from and perform with, like jazz musicians Benny Golson, Rufus Reid, Harold Mabern, Chico Mendoza, Akira Tana, Art Farmer, James Williams, Jon Faddis and Latin percussionist Ray Barretto. It was here that a love of improvisation and live performance developed, and where I began to understand the “high” that comes from playing in a collaborative atmosphere.

After a short hiatus which involved two changes in major, work in the “real” world and yet another transfer, I finally received a double Bachelor’s degree in Music and Religion from La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA.

While finishing the degree in Philadelphia, I had to set the horn aside…there simply wasn’t enough time in the day to both practice and study! Not wanting to get completely out of music, however, I picked up an inexpensive pennywhistle from a local store and began “noodling” around on it. I’d heard some traditional Irish music before and knew that I liked it, but that was about as far as it went at that point. Then one day I happened across a program on PBS where I heard this incredible music! On the screen was this guy playing an odd-looking flute, and producing music that was like nothing I’d heard before, yet it seemed instinctively familiar. (I later learned that the player was Seamus Egan!) It was, for me, that moment that so many musicians talk about, that Moment of Epiphany, when one’s life-long musical passion and inspiration are realized simultaneously. I knew then and there that I HAD to learn to play this music, and also, that I HAD to learn the Irish flute. So that’s what I set out to do, and have been doing ever since.

The traditional music scene in Philadelphia during the late 1990’s was a great place to begin learning. The music has a strong history there, and the community always encouraged aspiring players. Information, playing tips, bits of technique and resources were shared freely, and advice and direction were given liberally. Master classes and concerts given by some of the finest traditional players in the world were presented regularly by local organizations such as The Philadelphia Ceili Group and the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series. Opportunities to play were plentiful with sessions held most nights of the week, and there were (and still are) many fine players to work with.

My time in Philadelphia also saw interests in other areas developing, areas that at first seemed far removed from the music I was pursuing, but which later came to be intrinsically connected with my approach to it. Studies in spirituality, religion and mythology, psychology, aesthetics, the creative process, sociology / anthropology…all had a hand in shaping what Harold Mabern had called “the Concept” behind the music.

For me, that Concept can be summed up in one word:

COMMUNITY.

Music-making is about Connection...and that connection is Community. That’s where the magic is; that’s where it happens. Its about the people that you connect with - the audience, the other musicians, the dancers, the folks at the bar in the pub or at the tables in the coffeehouse.

Its also about the connection between musicians that leads to a raising of the bar, that pushes the performance to a higher level than you thought you could reach, and the artistic satisfaction that comes from skilfully working in that daring variation or improvisation. It’s about the applause after the gig when you know your audience digs what you’ve just laid down.

And it’s also about the connection between the musician and that ineffable “something greater” that informs and inspires, that drives you to develop and explore, and that ultimately. enchants your world.

For me, traditional Irish music embodies all of these things, and very simply, that’s why I pursue it. It can be remarkably flexible and yet wondrously resilient. It has a capacity for expression like no other type of music I’ve ever heard.