Music is a huge part of my life.  I have been playing guitar since High School (that's 15+ years now, hear some of my music, including some newly recorded stuff ), and have evolved from hard rock to jazz as a preference.  I have seen tons of great guitarists in concert--from hard rockers like Van Halen and Steve Vai, to legendary acoustic stars such as Hedges and Kottke.  I have four guitars (including my favorite--my Taylor 714ce), and an entire music studio at home where I can record, mix, and burn my own CDs!  Many friends have been lucky (or should I say "unlucky") enough to have seen a full demo of the studio!  

Latest update--Kae and Mafumi will amaze you--hear their talents in this home recording!

My Favorite Artists:  When I first got into guitar, it was all hard rock such as Van Halen, Motley Crue, Metallica, etc.  I still admire the sheer speed and energy of these guitarists, but newer things interest me lately.  I am still a huge fan of Eric Johnson, and was lucky to meet him in NYC a few years back.  He has the most amazing melodic and catchy playing style.  Vai and Satriani still crank out great stuff, they are truly great musicians (and I just checked out Steve Vai in concert here in Munich).  For pure acoustic guitar, Michael Hedges is amazing.  The first time I heard him ("Ritual Dance"), my view of guitar changed forever.  Unfortunately, he passed away in an unfortunate auto accident in '98.  In his genre, I have discovered other dazzlers such as Adrian Legg, Pierre Bensusan, and Leo Kottke.  I guess if I had to pick two favorite guitarists, it would be Michael Hedges and Eric Johnson.  But why choose, I enjoy them all!

I discovered jazz a few years back at a community college--they had a "History of Jazz" class.  Now it's about all I ever buy!  I don't even need to mention the legends--who are all my favorites--Tatum, Parker, Coltrane, Ella, Pass, Mulligan, Peterson...  I am particularly a fan of Art Tatum and his Group Masterpiece series is a mind boggler!

My Own Music:  Here are some tidbits of music by myself and my friends.  You'll need Real Audio or an MP3 player (you can download many for free online, such as Winamp, and Real Player is free as well) to hear these.  Quality is better on the MP3s, but they are bigger...

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