A brief list of my musical influences from day one to present day:
The Beatles, Johannes Brahms, Rachmaninoff, DEVO, Led Zeppelin, Mental As Anything, Level 42, Inxs, Carlos Santana, Paco Peña, The Prentenders, Bob Dylan, The Buzzcocks, Richard O'Brien (The Rocky Horror Picture Show),Wes Montgomery, MIles Davis, Luis Bonfa, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Fear, Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, Squarepusher, Hank Williams Sr, Heart, Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, Trio Los Panchos, Los Lobos, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Stan Kenton, Van Halen (early), Crosby Stills & Nash, Cat Stevens, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Scott Henderson, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Los Folkristas, Strunz & Farah, Paco De Lucia, Michael Crawford, Billy Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Pat Metheny, The Bad Plus, Medeski Martin & Wood, Meshell Nedeogocello, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, Mike Ness, Bootsy Collins, Jaco Pastorius, John Denver, Rage Against The Machine, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Neil Young, U2, Wynton Marsalis, Howlin Wolfe, Muddy Waters, The Ventures, Dick Dale, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Peter Gabriel, Henry Mancini, Alan Parsons Project, Geddy Lee, James Jamerson,Diagble Planets, Andy Narell, The Yardbirds, The Birds, Red Cross, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Nina Hagen, Doc Watson, Alice & Chains, John Mellencamp, Art Of Noise, Vangelis, Tomita, Jeff Linsky, The Hellcasters, Link Ray and his Raymen, Jerry Goldsmith, Edith Piaf, Neil Schon, Bjork, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ray Brown, Joe Pass, Lyle Lovette, Joe Jackson, Rimsky Korsakov, Jerry Herman, Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Phillip Glass, Ornette Coleman, Alison Kraus, Elvis Costello, Woody Shaw, Buddy Rich, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion, Jeff Beck, Gerald Wilson, The Cramps, The Gypsy Kings, Charlie Parker, Carl Orf, Paul Young, Howard Jones, Queen, Berlin, Screaming Headless Torsos, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Ravi Shankar, Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, John Coltrane, Cachao, Dixie Chicks, John McLaughlin, J.S. Bach, Dimtri Shostakovich and a that's where I'll stop since I could write a hundred more. One thing you can say is that I’m no musical zealot. In the scheme of existence, all good music is valid and has it’s place and we’re lucky to have so much diversity in the world. It's not a coincidence that "Super String Theory" has music references. This art form crosses many planes of thought, emotions, existence and love that we're just starting to learn about.
I took up singing around 15 years old and I was quite bad for about a year but I kept trying and eventually improved until I could sing quite well and receive compliments for it. My friend Jeff Perez used to make fun of my singing until about a few years later he apologized for making those comments. Then I knew I was on the right track. During that time I was driving my parents nuts with distorted guitar and singing all the time in a 500 square foot one bedroom house behind a noisy Mexican cantina my dad worked at under the table. We were about as poor as it got for the most part. But my dad eventually realized that I was serious about learning music and bought me two guitars my senior year. Before that he regarded a music career as a waste of time. His idea of a musician was players traveling from smelly cantina to a more smelly cantina to play for tips. One night my junior year, I was leaving to do a rock gig and I was wearing a French cut t-shirt with black satin overalls with my long hair! Most glam metal bands were wearing pretty feminine clothes during the early 80's. He called me a "Maricon" which is Spanish for Faggot. I tried to tell him that this was the style and girls really dug the clothes. Thank God I didn't have a famous 80's band or otherwise I would be embarrassed to see myself in that getup on VH1 where are these bozos now? Yeah I looked a Mexican "Gallagher". He scratched his head and said don't be home too late. "But Dad this gig not a night out on the town". I'll be home around 2 a.m.O.K? My father was a raging alcoholic and it shortened his life unfortunately. Being a bartender gave him plenty of access to booze I guess. He was quite charming when he was sober or just one drink in him. But after a few extra he became the Devil incarnate. Rumor has it when he was a cop in the early fifties in full view, witnessed his partner execute a poor man who was the local thief in Juarez, Mexico. (His father and my grandpa gave him the job because he was the police chief in Juarez). He would only steal food to eat and right before my dad's partner shot him in the head, he had begged for his life. It happened so fast my dad didn't see it coming because some power hungry "Federales" goofed around with the local petty thieves all the time and my dad didn’t think his partner would really do it.. My mom believed it freaked out my father very deeply and that's part of why the family moved to Los Angeles in 1956.But you know how people interpret history, I would be hurt if the partner was really my dad himself recanting the event in his head. Knowing my dad, he would never do such a thing. I remember him having frequent nightmares and now I know why. He was rightfully tormented if there is such a thing but he could also be a great father from time to time. He died in early 1994 after a long battle with diabetes. Honestly he just didn't take care of himself and was about as stubborn as a mule. He had all the classic lost limbs and kidney failure, blindness etc. etc. He passed away right around 11 am. I was auditioning for a steel drum band called Steel Parade led by a dishonest control freak named Phil Carrillo who years later cost me an unwarranted tax audit. And right at the moment my dad had his fatal heart attack, my left arm became riddled with pain that I couldn't play for an hour. And realize I was only 29 years old and I was in very good shape at that time. I know that time line was correct because my childhood friend Robert Sepulveda was a Medic with an ambulance Co. nearby. He heard the call about a heart attack at 759 Williamson Ave. Later when I arrived to teach lessons later around 2 p.m. My brother Claudio called and that's when I learned that my Dad had died. My dad might have almost blown that audition for me unintentionally. So wherever you are "Papã", I still love you very much. And yes, I did end up getting the gig even after that incident!
So all during my youth, I became aware of many styles of music. Los Lobos was a local band unknown to most outside of East Los Angeles. Both my brothers knew them real well since they all went to Garfield High School at the same time. Joe played with David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas many times in high school and taught me a lot of what he had learned. And now they are a part of music history. I learned about Jarocho, Peruvian and who was John McLaughlin. I got the Mahavishnu "Birds Of Fire" at ten years old as well as my brother's Santana, Led Zeppelin and Classics IV LP's. Classical music became big with me with the works of Brahms and Beethoven. But I had no one to share that with at school because you would be called a "sissy" and gotten ridiculed quite badly. Schools in East L.A. didn't promote high society music unless you were in concert band. I was chosen to play in The Junior Philharmonic Of Los Angeles directed by Dr. Katz. I played Tuba and was quite good on the thing sometimes coined “the chick repellent”. When he found out I also played guitar, he asked me to play the "Elvis Concerto" on a 50's style guitar for a special concert. Brazilian music also hit me like a ton of bricks. One of the members of Los Huicholos (The Latin folk music band my brother had) "Lee Cobin" was from Brazil. From the age of 15 to 18 years I watched him play guitar and fell in love with that style. The types of chords used created dissonances while maintaining gorgeous melodies along with sultry and intoxicating lyrics about love, tragedy, lust, and mythology as in Luis Bonfa's "Black Orpheus". I had one lesson with Duilo who played with the legendary Carmen Miranda for a few years. I feel very lucky to have had that kind of exposure. When people ask me what style I play I get a little annoyed because I want to answer "I play good music" "That's the style I play!" As you guessed it I'm on a mission to tour the stylistic world of music. To be a chameleon when I show up to play a style. Louis Armstrong once said: "There's only two kinds of music, Good and Bad!”. And I chose "GOOD"!
In 1985 I studied at Mt San Antonio College where I received an AA in music. I studied with the famous jazz educator Ashley Alexander for two years. He was a great player and really cared about his students. In 1987 I studied at Cal State University Los Angeles and studied under great educators like Bob Curnow, David Buck, William Hill, John Sciavo who was in the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the time and saxophone great and jazz band director Jeff Bendedict.
In early 1994 I was fortunate to say the least by having the opportunity to study voice with opera coach/vocalist great "Dr. Maurice Allard". He was the conductor for the Orange County Master Chorale at that time. Before that, he has been a premier instructor at Julliard and the French Conservatory. At first I did group lessons and soon after he invited me to study with him privately. All those years of studying voice in college and when I learned from him it all clicked!! I studied with him for almost a year. He passed away in 1995.God rest his soul. He was the best teacher in my entire life hands down. I miss him very, very much. Show less