My Background
a little about myself
I was raised in Cadillac, MI during the 50's.
I attended the University of Michigan while completing a master's degree (in biology) and then the University of California at Santa Cruz for a Ph.D. I am a relative late comer to banjo playing in that I didn't get into it until I was about 18 years old.
I was largely self taught.
During the course of learning my way around the banjo I became interested in Dixieland jazz music. I formed a jazz band of my own (The Toll House Jazz Band in Columbus, OH -- you can click on the MEDIA link at the top of the page to learn more) and played with a number of other jazz bands including the Buck Creek Jazz Band from Washington, DC and the New Orleans Nighthawks Jazz Band from Florida. The picture below is from my days as banjo player on the American Queen Riverboat.
I began studying.
Recently I began to study the music charts made available by Don Van Palta for the plectrum banjo and the banjo lessons provided by Tim Allan for the tenor banjo. I discovered that I could record banjo music on my laptop computer at home using a music manipulation program such as Adobe Audition. This allowed me to record some of my banjo CDs at home. Clicking on the MEDIA link at the top of the page will lead you to the banjo albums.
