Biography

How Things Began & Early Influences

I have been  studying guitar for over fifty years and still marvel at the beautiful symmetry of the guitar fret board and the six strings. The range and diversity of beautiful music the humble guitar is capable of when combined with the capacity of the human spirit to create is almost a miracle.

Everything started for me in on the evening of February 9th, 1964 sitting in front of a black and white television watching and listening intently to the Beatles. My father had encouraged me to study the trumpet which I dutifully did, beginning in third grade. Ironically, my trumpet teacher was Godfrey Brown who was the primary music teacher and mentor for legendary jazz bassist,  Scott LaFaro. I showed early promise of musicality on the trumpet but that soon dissipated once I heard and saw the Beatles. Soon the trumpet was abandoned for a cheap electric guitar my parents bought me (though they could ill afford the purchase the time.)  I insisted on not taking any lessons on the guitar and amazed my doubting parents by practicing non-stop and learning chords and songs from early Beatles song books.

Soon the British Invasion introduced a multitude of music and it was not long before my older brother Mike obtained a drum set and I joined the garage band he had formed with his school friends. Music poured from every other garage and basement in Geneva. Soon, we were performing for local parties and dances where I was amazed to receive a few dollars for doing something I loved.  When I entered high school, I turned my attention to the acoustic artists on the scene including Bod Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash, Kris Kristofferson and others. I also discovered the electric blues via Eric Clapton. This led me to Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Blind Blake and others.

After college, a traditional Irish musician named Kevin McElroy lived in an apartment below me in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Geneva. He convinced me to abandon pop music and explore roots music. He introduced me to Bluegrass, Celtic and other traditional music which led me to Norman Blake, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Tut Taylor and many other important artists.  My songwriting partner, Mike Rubin split for Boulder, Colorado around the same tiime after our duo Acquesta & Rubin was rejected by several record companies.

Soon after, I was flat picking my Martin D-28 along side a gifted young Bluegrass musician named Peter McDonald. Pete could play five string banjo, dobro, fiddle and guitar and sing harmonies better than anyone I ever met. I dived in. Gigs with Pete followed in the taverns around the Finger Lakes.

In 1976, I was jamming with my friend Nick Mascari. Nick was playing riffs up and down the neck utilizing the five pentatonic scale positions and forming Drop 3 minor seventh chord positions. It was foreign to me at the time. I learned he was studying with an older jazz guitarist in Rochester, named Dick Longale. I quickly wrote down his name and number.

Dick Longale was a master guitarist and teacher. Dick showed me what was possible on the guitar and introduced me to the music of Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Johnny Smith, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and all the other greats. I became a devoted “jazzaholic” listening to and studying everything I could find on the art form. I studied with Dick for many years and soon began attending jam sessions with older jazz players in the Finger Lakes. Soon I was getting called to play local gigs with these fellows and learning on the stand.

Besides Dick Longale, Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, George Van Epps and local Atlanta guitarist/teacher legend Bob Shaw were my greatest Jazz influences. My favorite current jazz guitarists are Jimmy Bruno and Dom Minasi. Both are uncompromising guitarists in their own way. Clarence White, Norman Blake and Tony Rice were my most important flat pick influences. I am a devoted Country Blues and Piedmont Blues follower and am still influenced greatly by Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake and Blind Wille McTell.

Although I spend most of my practice time on Jazz Guitar, I now think of myself as just a guitarist. I love all kinds of guitar music regardless of genre as long as it is honest and moves me spiritually. I love Woody Guthrie as much as Charlie Parker. Please do not call the “jazz police”  to arrest me.