To music for a bit.

I come from a very musical family on my mother's side. My grandfather was a dixie/jazz musician on Capitol Records. My Great-Grandmother ran a musical theater in Wichita, KS.

I grew up listening to Hendrix, Beatles, Brubeck, MJQ, America (the band) because my parents were into them.

But my own musical awakening I believe was this song. I was into Chuck Mangione before almost everyone.

I wanted to WRITE stuff like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_miVStOXwM

The Cello was played by Catherine Lehr Ramos, who is such a treat. She is currently Principal Cellist for Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis, and is on the faculty for the National Conservatory of Music, Mexico City, Mexico

https://www.catherinelehrramos.com/

At first I wanted to do jazz and musical theater. Learned to work the saxophone (thank you Steely Dan) and auditioned for the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, because that's where the meat of the musical is.

Wound up playing Herod. I played him as a snarling beast threatened by the events of the day.

Then my mother saved for months and bought me a piano. A used upright she certainly couldn't afford.

Everything changed at that moment. I needed to LEARN - to PLAY...

...EVERYTHING.

4 years later I was at UCLA, studying composition and playing second fiddle to Dave Koz, who was a year ahead of me. By that point I played Sax, Piano, Flute, Guitar, and was about to tear into synthesizers in the huge patchbays - the school had a MOOG.

I wanted to soak in everything. I grew up in a small town with not much culture despite what my parents could provide and everything was new to me. The first time I heard Oingo Boingo I was in my car and I had to pull over. I was astonished.