I'm an active performing guitarist who leads combos and plays solo Brazilian Bossa Nova, Samba, Afro-Cuban, and Blue Note-era (Hardbop) Jazz. As of today, February 8th, 2026, I/we have performed 588 times since I first listed on this website on March 12th, 2011.
I have studied with some of Hollywood's most successful touring and recording pros and played with some very accomplished musicians. Here is a nod to my instructors, mentors, and fellow bandmates.
Guitarist Rich Severson taught at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood. Rich was also the musical director for Dick Clark's traveling oldies shows with 50s and 60s rock stars like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis & Fats Domino. Rich runs a Jazz Guitar workshop that I have attended six times. The Wrecking Crew guitarist and Jazz poll winner, Howard Roberts, created GIT. Some of the most essential Hollywood guitarists attended and taught at GIT.
Sonoma State Guitar Instructor Randy Vincent. He recorded with Jazz Stars Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Henderson & Bobby Hutcherson and taught a young Julian Lage, who has toured with Chick Corea and is now a recording star himself. Randy sells a lot of guitar lesson books for Sher Music Co. https://randyvincent.com/bio/
Guitarist Mike Dana is a Grammy-nominated educator who studied with Joe Pass, ran Fresno City College's music department, and has toured Asia and the Middle East teaching Jazz with Jamey Aebersold for the U.S. State Department. https://cajazz.org/2018-hall-of-fame/mike-dana
I spent two years at the Jazz School with Downbeat Poll winner guitarist Mimi Fox & Afro-Cuban bassist Peter Bershay, and four years with Rex Bell, the guitarist at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
I spent two weeks with Guitarist Barry Zweig. Barry is listed in the guitarist credits of the popular documentary "The Wrecking Crew" and has had many recording and touring highlights. For example, he recorded and toured with Sammie Davis Jr. in the Buddy Rich Orchestra and was the guitarist for the Dinah Shore Show. We lost Barry last year. http://www.barryzweig-guitar.com
I spent two weeks with Hollywood Jazz Guitarist Pat Kelley. Pat toured with George Benson, Natalie Cole, and David Benoit. Pat also played guitar on The Merv Griffin Show and taught at USC for 25 years. Barry & Pat have chapters in the book "The Great Jazz Guitarist: The Ultimate Guide by Scott Yanow.
Two weeks with European Jazz guitarist David Becker. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Becker
Before COVID hit, from 2010 to 2020, I played at Favela's Fusion monthly in Fairfield. For 12 years, I've been a member of "In the Mood Big Band," a 17-piece Swing Era Band from Stockton comprised of retired music educators and professionals. We do 3 or 4 benefit events in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley annually.
For the last 12 years, I have visited and played with 97-year-old pianist Benji Gintjee every Tuesday in Stockton. Benji was a Navy WWII veteran at the Iwo Jima battle. As a teen in the 1940s, he played in Oakland's black after-hours clubs where stars of the day would drop in to play. Two that come to mind are Texas Blues guitarist T-Bone Walker and Basie band member Illinois Jacquie. Later, he was the pianist at the Claremont Hotel in Oakland and, for a time, a close friend of Sammie Davis Jr. Benji was a valuable mentor to me. I lost Benji on July 22nd, 2023.
I travel in a circle of Jazz musicians, so I have dozens of players I can call on, but I try to keep my first-call list as follows.
I have a decade-long association with trumpet player Bob Sakoi. Bob played in the pit band at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in his early 20s and toured Europe many times. Bob is very popular in the Sacramento Valley and plays in the Trad Jazz Band Cell Block 7. www.cellblock7.net
From Lafayette Bassist Tom Elliott, who studied closely with world-famous bassist Jon Clayton. Mr. Clayton is on the cover of the June 2022 Downbeat magazine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clayton_
Tom enjoys a strong reputation in the East Bay. Recently, Tom worked with Jazz star pianist Benny Green. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Green_ & Cuban trumpeter & jazz star Arturo Sandoval https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sandoval
Gary Maas, from Benicia, is a highly experienced professional jazz drummer. Gary spent over a decade with Dalt Williams at Sticky Rice Bistro in Fairfield. From Fairfield, Mr.Rick McKinney, an Armijo High School teacher, is on Congas.
From Woodland, a wonderful String Bassist named Jim Hilliard. Jim is a lifelong musician from Concord who comes from a musical family. Jim is also a fine Trombone player.
Earlier in my life, for five years, I had a band that played at Sticky Rice in Fairfield with a fantastic old vibraphone player named Larry Emery; Larry was Cannonball & Nat Adderley's roommate at the Navy School of Music in Washington, D.C. in 1952. He was also in the 6th Army Band with Chet Baker and, for 15 years, was a member of the highly coveted Bohemian Club Band in SF. Also, the original drummer for The Notes of Choice, Nick U'Ren, and Bassist Bob Bell, who worked with organist Jimmy Smith 4 nights a week for a number of years in Sacramento, CA. Both men were respected, long-time Nor Cal jazz scene veterans and Vietnam War veterans. Nick was in San Francisco in the early 60s, playing and seeing many jazz legends, including Miles' 1958 Kind of Blue band and Miles' 2nd Great Combo.
