I've been a performing musician since I was 12 years old. I started out in school as a classical musician learning percussion. I played timpani in the Annapolis High School band and orchestra, principal drummer in the marching band, timpanist with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, drummer with the jazz band, won a scholarship from the US Naval Academy Band to study timpani at Peabody University for a year, and was in numerous All-State bands and orchestras. I also played drums with several rock bands and my own dixieland/mariachi band, the Silopanna Brass. We had a regular gig at Buzzy's Pizza right outside the Naval Academy grounds in Annapolis.
During my teenage years I taught myself to play guitar, first on acoustic, later on electric. During university I played with a number of progressive rock bands, and when I graduated I moved my band to Boston. I performed with various groups around Boston for the next 30 years, including rock, blues, R&B, country and progressive jazz. My last group in Boston was Fikus, a jazz group that played many original tunes and gigged regularly at jazz clubs, bars and weddings up and down the east coast from New York to Maine. We also worked as a backing group for a Russian female folk/rock singer.
I continue to write songs and sing regularly at venues around my new home on Denman Island. I've more recently taken up the alto sax and am up to the level of pleasing myself - ha, ha.
There's a collection of my songs (lyrics and chords) here. It won't be of too much use without a recording of the songs, but I've included any original recordings that I have (mostly of very poor quality) for anyone who might be interested.
I've also composed a number of jazz/fusion pieces, for which the music can be found here. Again, there are a number of recordings.
Here's a partial list of the musical groups I've been in.It would be impossible to count all the pickup bands, side gigs, studio sessions and jams. I have recordings of varying quality for a number of these groups. Click on a link below to see a list of available recordings.
1960-63 Annapolis Junior High School Band - principal percussionist/timpanist
1963-66 Annapolis High School Band and Orchestra - principal percussionist/timpanist
1963-66 Annapolis Symphony Orchestra - timpanist
1965-68 Silipanna Brass - 5-piece dixieland/mariachi band - drums
1968-70 Tar Baby - progressive rock band - lead guitar, vocals
1971-72 Sredni Vashtar - progressive rock band - electric bass, backup vocals
1972 Four-piece pop band - electric bass, backup vocals
1987 *.tmp (star dot temp) - rock/blues band - lead guitar, vocals
1988 Three-piece country band - rhythm guitar, backup vocals
1989-92 Mosaic - 2-piece pop band - guitar, MIDI synth. vocals
1994 Nixons - 5-piece punk rock band - rhythm guitar. backup vocals
1996-97 Elaine Scurci and Soul Jones
- 5-piece R&B band - guitar, vocals
(I also wrote all of the 2 and 3-piece horn charts
for this group)
1998 0 Hz
(zero hertz) - 5-piece original rock band - guitar, vocals
(I also wrote all of the original rock songs for this
group)
2004-05 A5 - Russian folk/rock band - guitar
1999-05
Fikus - 5-piece
jazz/fusion band - lead guitar, vocals
(I also wrote most of the original jazz/fusion compositions for this
group)