guitar players who were out
there playing with some sort of
“grit” in their sound, but who
at the same time had real jazz
chops. Players like John Scofield,
Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Rob-
ben Ford — and [laughs] there are
more — Greg Howe, Wayne Kranz,
and Scott Henderson . I was a big
Scott Henderson guy when I was
growing up!
So you really do have a lot of
influences!
Oh yeah, absolutely! And all of
those influences inform the way
I play, the way I listen, and the
way I process music. And it’s a
great process for me to be a part
of, because I’ve always tried to
be unpredictable in my music,
in my music choices, and in the
way I play and compose.
Some musicians give you sur-
prises that are funny and clever
when they improvise or com-
pose music. Innovators like Mo-
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 51
zart and Beethoven and Rach-
maninoff, for instance, give you
a sense of how great music can
be. And I think that my affinity
for all different kinds of music
came from studying at the Man-
hattan School of Music where I
got to listen to all different styles
and learned to find greatness in
all different genres of music.
And, so, when you go on to
look at jazz — the experimental
side of it, the history of jazz, and
how it has evolved over time — it’s
just been a great experience to
be a part of.
Tell us about your band. What
can people expect at one of
your concerts?
We’re trying to be as eclectic
as we can be! We’ll do a nice
mix of original music — sort of
modern jazzy stuff — but we’ll
play some covers too. We have a
great vocalist, Jay Prince, who’s
gonna help us out with the very
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