my parents were just trying to
expose me to as many experi-
ences as they could to see what
I would end up liking the most.
And when it was time for me to
make a career decision, in many
ways, my decision was kind of
made for me, because of my
ability to play baseball and the
opportunity which was given to
me to to play it professionally at
a very young age.
While you were playing base-
ball, you always had your gui-
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 51
tar with you — especially on the
road — and that’s where you be-
came familiar with lots of differ-
ent musical influences like jazz
and pop, in addition to classical
and Latin music. Were there any
particular composers or per-
formers then or today whose
music you admire?
There are so many! But I al-
ways kept this sort of mantra or
motto: to always keep my eyes
and my ears open and to listen
to as many different kinds of mu-
sic as I could, because there’s so
INDEX
NEXT ARTICLE
130