Male

50

I started playing music professionally in 1972 in New Orleans, got my MM in 1985 at UNO, and moved to North California in 1991.

I’m a composer, performing artist and teacher, and have played many styles of music from rock to jazz, classical to salsa, and have a particular love for a number of musical styles; Traditional Jazz, "Salsa", Middle Eastern and Asian music are among the top.

My checkered career has ranged from playing with the New Orleans Pops Orchestra, backing stars like Bob Hope and Neil Sedaka, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and such to the other extreme, playing behind chicken wire in Bayou country!

In the Middle Eastern music world, I was the original music director for Hahbi’Ru, performed with the revival of Bal-Anat and Suhaila Salimpour, played with the late Joseph at the Gypsy Caravan at the Oregon Country Fair, with Zincali, Lloyd Miller, Latif Bolat, Bora Ozkok, Ahmad al-Chaar (my teacher), Yorgos Leftheriotis, Mark Bell, Uncle Mafufo and Sciroco, Ernie Fischbach, Tameem Afzali, Daryush Sami, and many others. I’ve taught workshops on Middle Eastern Music in New Orleans and California, particularly at Lark in the Morning Music Camp, Kosmos camp and for a while at Suhaila Salimpour’s Studio. I am available for lessons on Maqam theory, oud, saz, ney, mizmar, bouzouki, rebaba, tar/setar, and other instruments.

I began playing Middle Eastern music in 1978, learning bouzouki from the local Greek community musicians. In the early 1980's studied Persian tar with Faraj Purlian and Arabic oud, nai and keman with Ahmad al-Chaar; performed with many if not all of the New Orleans Middle Eastern dancers, several club/restaurants and at Kruz’s place during the 1980's. I played the Northern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire from 1991-1994.
Currently I am somewhat delayed in recording my original Middle Eastern compositions, but have finished a couple of CD’s of massage/bodywork/meditation music and a CD of my jazz band (now on CD Baby). Also, there was the surprising but welcome release of once-lost recordings by Zincali!

I am mostly working on new tunes and arrangements for the next Big Easy Jazz Band CD, with the wonderful Jack Braet on woodwinds.