Q. What inspired you to first pick up saxophone and what were your first attempts at playing the sax like?

A. My grandfather played piano, accordion, guitar, and brass instruments, and was very creative. I remember him playing with my Dad, who played drumset, in the livingroom before my parents got divorced. It was the most amazing thing and I guess that put a desire to be able to play an instrument. When I was 12 we moved to New Orleans and no one new me so I was usually last picked for teams in sports. I found out that if you took band you could get out of gym and since I had had some classes on recorder I thought saxophone would be similar so I asked my mom to get me one. I loved it. It was similar to the recorder and I picked it up fast. I improved quickly but my growth was beginning to stop as I had not realized that a saxophone must be repaired to work properly. After calling around I found a woodwind repairman named Marty Oberlander. Marty was a jazz saxophonist who had moved to Brunswick, Ga., The town I was living in at this time, and after seeing the top 13 year old saxophone player coming out of a private lesson I came to the revelation that private lessons were how you get good. This saxophone student had a cute girlfriend which gave me the idea: Maybe if I could play sax well girls would like me. So my music motivations in the early days were not entirely purely motivated.

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

A. Here are my teachers in order: Marty Oberlander, Randall Reese, Bob Greenhaw, Sam Skelton, Bob Berg, Tim Armacost, Billy Mitchell, and George Coleman.

Q. Who inspired you to learn the sax?

A. Marty Oberlander gave me records to listen to weekly. The one that made me want to play was Cannonball and Coltrane, (Cannoball Adderly Quintet in Chicago). This record still puts me in awe.

Q. You are also an accomplished clarinetist, pianist and composer. Who are your influences and who inspires you?

A. My influences in order are:
Cannonball Adderly
Charlie Parker
David Sanborn
Branford Marsalis
Michael Brecker
John Coltrane
Lester Young
Dexter Gordon
Sonny Rollins
Hank Mobley
Wayne Shorter
Joe Henderson
Stan Getz
Paul Gonsalves
George Coleman
Bob Berg
Grant Green
Wynton Kelly
McCoy Tyner
Police
Miles Davis

Q. What is your practice regimen like?

A. Lately it consists preparing for my next live performance. There was a period where I would play all day long. When it was routine it was taking care of these things: Transcribing and memorizing solos, playing scales in all keys from all degrees, memorizing patterns given to me by teachers, learning tunes, practicing piano, writing music, prayer.

Q. How would you define your style of playing?

A. Neo-classic-hardbop-modal-emotional-soulsearch music.

Q. Tell us about your CD and tell us about the players on the recording?

A. The musicians on this are unbelievable. On guitar, Dave Frackenpohl. Dave Teaches jazz guitar at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Dave is one of the most humble, supportive, and kind people, while also being able to play with deep insight and virtuosic skill. Kenny Banks is on piano. Kenny is one of the best musicians in the world? Period. He has a way of bringing music up from a deep inner place? His spirit. He gave some suggestions that made the record a work of art. Neal Starkey is on Acoustic bass. Neal is a phenomenon. He plays by ear with a very limited knowledge of written music. He has played with everyone you can think of, in just about every style and context. Neal can make you crack up with his musical humor, but he knows how to play original music in such a personal way that it baffles you. On my tunes, some of which are a difficult read, he played as if he wrote them. Unbelievable. The drummer extraordinaire is Kenah Boto/Woody Williams, when we recorded. Kenah is a very sought after drummer. You can't really classify or compare Kenah. We've had conversations about being artistically true and how we should strive not to re-create. His playing on the record is pure genius and soul. I wrote a tune to feature him, WWII (Woody Williams in 2 Rhythmic contexts) He told a friend of mine that drumming can either be in triple meter or duple or combinations. This helped me because I came from a place where unless I was a good emulator/ imitator I felt I had nothing worth hearing. When you tell a drummer It's an Elvin Jones feel etc. Woody translates that to triplet subdivision. Not Swing vs/ Straight. The way these men played made the album an inspired work. This record I can listen to without judging the music. I just feel the emotion of each selection.

Q. Lets talk about your creative process. How do you approach writing an original song - do you compose from the saxophone or do you use a piano?

A. When I write. Which is slow and painful. I work from a piano. The latest record was created from a $100 Casio keyboard I bought at Sam's Club. I really liked one of the programmed rhythms. It was a 3/4 pattern. It was the inspiration for many of the triplet tunes on the new record. I am an aspiring piano player. I can play some basic things and have done some gigs on it. Those gigs were probably a chore for the rhythm section but they taught me a lot about what to listen for. Great piano players to me are for me what most people would feel toward an inspiring athlete like Michael Vick or Michael Jordan. I get almost starstruck still. I want to do some records as a duo with my great friend Gary Motley. There is so much music happening that I think recording as a duo will be incredibly fulfilling.

Q. Share with us some of the artists that you have worked with?

A. I worked with Sam Rivers in his RivBea Orchestra. He is very prolific as a composer and a truly innovative and creative being. He was inspiring to be around. I also toured with Speech from Arrested Development and recorded on the new release "Among the Trees". He is also prolific and hard working. He is always involved in the creative process. I was flattered when he used the title track to my cd "Something to Say" as a loop for his song "Heaven." It's really an interesting conincidence since he was the one who challenged me to write the song, which was meant for communion at church and "Something to Say" is that song.

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

A. Being an original voice while satisfying the needs of the style or situation. I also struggle with craving approval and acceptance. This is deadly for an artistic person because you MUST go through the pain of separation in order to know how to draw near to others while maintaining your self. This has been my quest for the last year.

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

A. I like all types of music. I really like the way music is used in film to set moods. That is what I want to do with my music. Set moods. If someone comes up and says I feel you that makes me so happy.

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

A. Put God and family first. Seek that first. It can be easy to become religious and then talk yourself into believing that art is completely selfish. If you put God first then your music can be an overflow of gratitude.

Q. What equipment do you use live and in the studio and why?

A. I use a Selmer Super Balanced Action tenor saxophone with a solid silver Francois Louis mouthpiece. It's a very flexible setup and the first to easily allow me to play the lower notes on the horn. For performance I have an AMT Roam wireless mic that I like a lot. It keeps the sound acoustic. When I moved to NY my saxophone was stolen the 2nd week I was there so this equipment has been a long time in coming but the search is over.

Q. What one piece of equipment would you advise all saxophonists to own?

A. A saxophone. It sounds funny but we can get neurotic about what we play and what it makes us. After the whole searching for the perfect saxophone experience I think the search is inside.

Q. What's been your proudest playing moment?

A. Being asked to play wit Joe Lovano at Emory. He was giving a concert and I dropped by during rehearsal. After talking he wanted to hear me and at the end of the rehearsal he invited me to play the last song of the concert with him.

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

A. This was really more of a practical joke played on me but when I was playing in a professional summer theater group at Jekyll Island, GA I had to cover many woodwind parts because it was a scaled down orchestra. I was using an EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument). I used it for any part such as the oboe that I did not have to play acoustically. My good friend set my sound to MOTORCYCLE when it was supposed to be oboe. I did a gliss up the scale and it sounded like a nuclear power generator going online in the middle of a tense quiet moment in the show. We played pranks on each other like that all summer though. That's what you do when your in your early 20s. I coped with it by putting the EWI in the closet.

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

A. Yes but not with anything pre-determined. I'm usually working on some new idea and I play it until usually my wife will say "Can you stop that."

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

A. Play your heart out and welcome adversity.

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

A. Thank you to supportive people and people who tell you what you need to hear without crushing.