Guitar with James B.

I first studied guitar from Chuck Anderson a previous student of renown teacher Dennis Sandole. After two years with Anderson I began music studies with Sandole which lasted five years. I had no traditional schooling from a university in music, but instead believe private study with the best teacher was the path for me. I continued to gig, play all genres of music while maintaining my music studies. I decided in the late 1989 that moving to New York, although a desire, would never happen. And, with the decline of jazz-fusion and lack of jazz venues in my geographic area I knew my dream of making a living from jazz music was all but over. But this did not diminish my passion for playing and composing avant garde jazz-fusion music. In the mid-nineties I met jazz guitarist and composer Steve Giordano. Steve had a completely different approach to teaching and learning guitar then any of my previous teachers. This began three years of music study and friendship with Steve. After my time with Giordano I built a 1000 sq. ft. recording studio in the basement of my home and opened Genesis Recording Studio in 2001. The early 2000’s put me on an entirely new learning curve; I study recording, mixing, and mastering. By 2010 with the advances in digital recording technology musicians / bands began making demo recordings from small computer based home studios. Many small pro-recording studios closed during this time including my own. In summer of 2010 I was looking over Pat Metheny’s website and noticed he named the top four guitarists in NYC, in his opinion. Subsequent to reviewing each guitarist’s website and music I found Rez Abbasi’s playing and music too interesting and enticing to forget. I emailed Rez about studying jazz composition with him and now in 2018 I’m still going up to NYC few times a year to study composition and guitar. Being exposed to musicians at the level of Rez Abbasi, Sandole, and Giordano continues to nourish my musical life. I now know what it takes to master the guitar and be successful. It is this knowledge and love of creating music which has become my life's journey.