Q. What inspired you to first pick up the guitar and what were your first attempts at playing these instruments?

A. Growing up with parents that always listen to music , I was drawn to the guitar at an early age of 9 years old. I remember an old man in Canada showing me three notes on the first string. I don't know why I found that inspiring or interesting but I knew I wanted to play.

Q. Did you take lessons or are you self-taught?

A. I was what you would call self taught. I pursued music as far as I could then attended and graduated from an exclusive music college in Los Angeles.

Q. Who inspired you to learn the guitar?

A. Not really one particular player that I remember, Neil Young was one of my first big influences, but over the years I gravitated toward the heavy hitters of rock and the slick fluent players of jazz.

Q. What is your practice regimen like?

A. This also has changed over the years. At one point I would do my scales and chords and rhythm but today I try to just play a lot. I study chord melody and with that, it gives me a well rounded diet of musical information.

Q. How would you define your style of playing?

A. The term Fusion was used in the 1970's describing a certain type of sound , the majority being a mix between Rock and Jazz. Fusion can be a mix of any two or more styles. My style I would call Fusion as well, with influences of Rock, Blues, Funk and Jazz. I love the feel of Rock and Funk sounding guitar mixed with the advanced Harmony of Jazz.

Q. What can we expect from your CD release, "This Is Why"?

A. This I would say is a journey of musical experiences over the years. My main objective with the title "This Is Why" I play guitar. This relationship with my guitar has been the longest relationship I've ever had. My music is very personal and offers a variety of nice soothing ballads to cutting edge guitar.

Q. Tell us about the musicians that appear on your CD?

A. Well, as you can see, I have several different musicians playing on my record. Randy Hoexter is a long time friends who played piano and produced a few of the tunes on this disc. Chip lunsford on percussion, Joe Reda on bass and Jon Chalden on Drums also play together in another band and I used them as my rhythm section on the tunes with Saxophonist (Sam Skelton). Sam and Tom Knight on Drums, were in the first touring fusion band I was in called "Liquid Blue" in the mid 90's. Liquid Blue was Adam Nitti's project who is another great musician/bass player and writer. Mike Stern appeared on "This Is Why" with Gary Wilkins, another outstanding bassist and from Holland, Jef VanVeen on drums. Enrico Galetta on bass and Tom Knight on drums played on a few tunes together. Enrico Galetta from Italy, is my current bass player and a Tom Knights prodigy, Josh Stiles is my current drummer. Canadese Africano has Charles Marvray on drums and Ahsa Ahla on percussion another amazing combination.

Q. Lets talk about your creative process. How do you approach writing an original song?

A. There is not one simple answer for this question. I wish it was as simple as, I hear a melody and put chords to it, done. But for me it's work that I somewhat enjoy. It could be a groove that I like or a melody, a set of chord changes, a feeling or emotion. Once I've established this, I have a starting point. It's just like planting a seed, once it takes root no telling where it might end up and I have to follow the music or help guide the direction. I do know if I don't start with some kind of seed then nothing is sure to happen.

Q. What challenges do you face when switching from different styles of music?

A. I'm good friends with Jimmy Herring and in one of our conversations the statement was made, " to Jazz to be Rock and to Rock to be Jazz". I don't think I have any problem switchings styles. I love to play with a fat body guitar and a thick sound playing bebop to hard core funk with sizzling over driven solos. Years ago I did a radio interview with a radio station and the DJ Dr. Jazz made this statement that I thought was very profound. He Said "there is only two kinds of music, good and bad". After thinking about this, I found this to be true and subjective. But it was my choice to see what was good and what I thought was bad.

Q. What other types of music or artists do you derive inspiration from?

A. This is a good question. With the internet, one can listen to music from anywhere in the world. What I have learned or tried that seems to work well is to "buy" music from the internet from different country's like Africa or Asia, not knowing wether I'm "supposed" to like it or not. Meaning, with no preconception about the music...just plain pure music. The cool thing is, I get to look at it from a open mind and at the same time help to support music world wide. It's a win win, if you will.

Q. What's the most important bit of advice you were given by another musician?

A. Mike Stern told me to keep playing and just finish the tune, right or wrong just finish it. This was so important for me because I had a lot of tunes started but not completed. The completion of a tune was when my growth would start on what I had just finished. Meaning finishing a tune is not the end but the beginning of a journey with the tune on hand.

Q. What's been your proudest playing moment?

A. The solo on the title track "This Is Why". Mike Stern and I recorded this live in the studio and my solo was the first take. My thinking was that this can't be the one, I just plugged into the board and played. I will wait until Mike leaves after doing his part and I will redo the solo. I transcribed it and played it note for note but the soul was gone and I could hear it play the two solo's back to back.This taught me about the magic in the moment.

Q. What's the biggest disaster you've ever had on stage, and how did you cope with it?

A. Experience is the greatest teacher. My first band was in the corporate world playing top forty. I never really listen to the radio or top forty music so I was coming from a theory approach. When playing simple 3 chord songs, I was using everything against the grain, thinking how cool this altered stuff sounded. when I looked up, I found that I was the only one thinking it was cool and every one else was scratching their heads. I learned real quick that there is more to music than just music.

Q. Do you warm up before a concert and if so how?

A. Yes absolutely, I no longer make it a science, I keep it simple. I just play as much as I can and I find that when the gig comes I'm warmed up. I just try to move my fingers on the fret board.

Q. What's the most important bit of advice you could give to new guitarists?

A. Play a lot of music of all styles and don't be judgemental. Finding the good in every piece you listening to and try to stay out of the negative.

Q. Thanks for your time and consideration for this article and interview. Any last thoughts for our readers?

A. Thank you so much for this interview and for allowing me to express my own feelings and views. I am so grateful to have this opportunity as it helps me to reevaluate myself and the reason I decided to play guitar to begin with.