Primary Instrument: Vocal
Composer and singer, also writer, grew up listening to Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Louis Armstrong and various classical music, discovered rock and vocal music at 15, began writing music after listening to The Beatles.
Studied orchestration and composition at UCLA, also a writer of music history.
Favorite singers: Frank Sinatra, Lennon, Elvis Presley, Bobby Bland, Robert Johnson, Paul McCartney, Johnny Hodges's sax, Charlie Parker's sax
Favorite writers: Robert Johnson, Michel Legrand, Duke Ellington, Borodin, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner (Meistersingers and Tristan), Stravinsky, Hindemith, Fats Waller, Charlie Parker, the new music fusing jazz, rock and classical music.
Also plays electric guitar (Stratocaster), and acoustic guitars including twelve string.
“We should be recording this” A fan of an impromptu hostel busk, London
