About Me…

I got my inkling of bass through tuba in 8th grade for the junior high jazz band. I was a fine tubist and on my way to achieving great fame. However, in 9th grade our jazz band needed a bass player. My band director kindly borrowed a bass from a local music store along with an amp and I was set to go. It was a wonderful Peavey P-Bass with a turquoise finish. Yeah, I wasn’t really sold on the color, but it was free to use. That year I learned and became a decent sight-reader on tunes like Opus One, Birdland, and In The Mood which were nicely watered down for us young ones.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a jazz band happening at the high school, so 3 years passed that provided no bass outlet. I focused my attention to tuba and progressed there.

College comes around and I get several scholarships to be in the band, be a music major, play bass and tuba in a variety of ensembles. It was here at Kilgore College that both of my instruments of choice grew greatly. I became aware of bass players and some absolutely solid basslines; specifically, Ray Brown, Kim Stone and Rocco Prestia. These guys jump started my engine for bass playing. It was during the first two years of college that I acquired my first two basses: Hohner 5 string and a Peavey Foundation 4-string fretless. On the tuba side, Roger Bobo and Harvey Phillips were introduced to me through vinyl records. Awesome performances and have been my motivation to this day.

I transferred schools after my sophomore year to the University of North Texas. Prior to my attending, my friend, Mike Blanco said, “if you’re going to make a lab band, buy an upright bass.” I did this and made the 9 o’clock the second semester there. Considering there are only 16 bass spots (~40 auditioned), I was proud to be part of this legacy as a non-jazz major. I did some outside-of-school playing but not too much due to an unruly schedule and a lot of tuba practice time (give or take 2-3 hours a day). I did make time to be a good bassist and gigs started to come my way. Performing in local church orchestras helped considerably as well. Its opportunities for mild practice and a lot of sight-reading helped me significantly.

After graduation, I settled in with a fully instrumented big band, The Celebration Orchestra, directed by the late Thane Tolle. I was with them for 6 years until I moved. I also freelanced and worked mostly as a sub to bass friends which could actually keep you as busy as being any bands regular bassist. As a band director, I didn’t really have much free time to do rehearsals and regular gigs, but it was a challenging and rewarding experience to play with so many great musicians over the years. I have changed careers and have found more time and opportunity to play out. I am now in Austin and seeking productive work in rock, Christian, country, jazz/latin, pop, etc.

I have been band directing now for almost 7 years and have settled into Corpus Christi, Texas. The music scene doesn’t flourish like Dallas, but there’s great music and culture here along with some fine Mexican food. My present work is with top-line cover band, Flashback. This 8-piece group is hired for a majority of the high-end clientel parties and events in the city and surrounding areas. We will periodically do the club scene. There is some jazz here in town with a handful of musicians who play combos. To be literal, I can name all of these guys on two hands. I've played with some of these guys, but there isn't much work to have around here for this genre of music. It's a sad situation for jazz in Corpus Christi.

That’s the conclusion of the story for the moment.