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This trio has been a musical highlight of mine as far as playing jazz. I could not have met two better guys than the Reinhardt brothers. Not only are they both great musicians, but they are great people. We started playing together when I moved to Florida in the late 80's. I sat in with Dave's band in 1991 which led to a jam session at his folks house in "The Cave". From there we played a Letterman Band type gig (straight ahead jazz and instrumental pop covers) at their Dad's club "Norm's Place" every Monday night for a total of 7 years. During that time they were both in Richard Elliott's band as well as playing with every other smooth jazz artist one hears on the radio. They are still working for the big names in smooth jazz as I type. Along with the Norm's run, throw in a private function here and there, some local Tampa/St Pete area studio sessions as well as backing some national acts that came through the area, and we have been a "nice little group" to hear. I am usually NOT the leader on gigs with these guys but on this ego maniac project, I decided to take on that role. However, the rule of thumb among musicians still stands...... as the leader of this project I am the weakest link - ha ha!!!

The other band I play with on weekends is totally different than my jazz project. That band would be Chameleon. Chameleon is a dance/corporate cover band where I luckily surrounded myself (again) with four great players. The thing that is unique about this band is that unlike most cover bands who specialize in one style of music, we play everything from EWF to Cheap Trick to Beastie Boys to Bell Biv Devoe to Nelly to Usher to Snoop Dogg to Fitty Cent to Audioslave to Zepplin to Dave Matthews to Def Leppard to Salsa artists I cant even pronounce to Marley to believe or not, our own testosterone version of the Pussycat Dolls. Thats right, 4 white guys over 40 doing this shit. But now that we have admitted we are old, that is the gimmick! I myself have been dubbed as the old, white gangsta' rapper. Bottom line is we work every weekend and it is still fun.

As far as my own personal background, I started on drums at age six and switched to bass by age 13 (a ton of drummers - no bassists). At that moment I fell in love with the bass.I still enjoy playing drums but do it for fun and to show off when I can. I learned to play bass by ear at first and then with the help of my mom,brother and a good friend who was a great keyboard player, I learned to read music by high school.After practicing like a maniac all through high school, I decided that music would be my career choice. My mom being the responsible person she was, made sure I majored in Music Ed. for something to fall back on. Man I am glad she did as it has allowed me a steady contract, pay check, health care, pension plan and has allowed me the freedom to buy a home, raise a family and still play bass as much as I want. I majored on upright, classical bass (no electric bass program at my college) and graduated with a B.M.E. in 1985 from good ole KSU. (And before you ask, no I dont play upright anymore. I would last maybe two tunes before the hands/fingers would die from fatigue). After being a middle school band director for 10 years upon graduation, I got smart and went with elementary music. I love going to work everyday teaching kids my passion - MUSIC. I still play at least 2-3 gigs every week and IMO, have the best of both worlds. I go through spurts as far as my routine practicing goes, but at this age and being a father, I accept that and do my best.

My priorities in life are 1.Family/Relationships with people 2.Work/Music 3.College football(especially KSU Wildcat football). I would be wrong on so many levels if I failed to recognize it was my mother (Bonnie), father (Luke) and brother (Chris) who steered me in the direction of music. The passion was in my body from birth, they just helped me realize that fact.