Blues Guitar with Geordie K.

My skill-set and industry expertise are comprehensive and up-to-date. I make it my top priority to see that my instrumental performance and pedagogy is executed well and efficiently. My career has also seen its share of achievements; while working as a Navy Musician, I became one of only 25 Bandmasters/commissioned officers in the Navy Music Program Navy-wide. Furthermore, my concurrent work throughout my career as a private, freelance musician has yielded two recordings as a leader, and my becoming an Endorsement Artist for Heritage Guitars in 2001. During my time working at the Armed Forces School of Music, as Jazz Guitar, Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Combo, and Jazz Big Band instructor, I learned a great deal and achieved a number of goals. One of my highest achievements was earning the Master Training Specialist designation for exceptional performance as an instructor in a record 4 months. This typically takes 1-3 years to attain. Earning this designation led to my earning 5 Meritorious Commendation Medals and 4 Navy Achievement Medals to date, which in turn led to the best trained Navy Musicians graduating from the Armed Forces School of Music during my tenure. In my recent capacity as Director, Navy Band Great Lakes, I was able to significantly expand my skill-set. My responsibilities for programming music and managing travel for a concert band, parade band, ceremonial band, Dixieland band, jazz ensemble, jazz combo, brass quintet, woodwind quintet, and a blues band caused me to develop my musical knowledge across all genres, as well as my ability to manage large sums of money. I've been stationed here since 2014, and I work regularly as a jazz guitar leader and sideman on the Chicago gig scene. Upon my retirement from the Navy Music Program in 2018, I will remain in Chicago and devote the full entirety of my efforts to performance, pedagogy, and recording as a private citizen-musician. I have held a SECRET clearance for 21+ years. That is the most intense background check anyone can get, which is why I passed on the Take Lessons background check. Currently available for tours, lessons, recording, and live performances.