My Musical Background

This page contains a brief history of my musical background. Here you will find the seeds of my interest in music, my musical training, my humble accomplishments, and my goals for the future. Search below for that elusive fact you're just dying to know.

Beginnings

My first guitar was a tennis racket?! My brother and I did a Beatles imitation. I was John and he was Paul. We used to "strum" and sing along with their records, dance around, shake our closely cropped heads, the whole bit. My parents probably never laughed so hard in their lives.

Dan got a real guitar first, and joined a couple of his neighborhood friends in a little band, Of course, I had to have a guitar too, a twelve string just to be different. I goofed around with it, took a couple strum and sing lessons at the YMCA, but made no real connection with it just yet.

We both sang in the church boy's choir, where I was always fascinated by the magical power of the church organ. I made up my own versions of Bach organ preludes on the Hammond B-3 we had at home. I also played "House of the Rising Sun" (by The Animals) and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Procol Harum) and took two lessons from a well-meaning little old lady, who gave me "Tenderly" and "Old Calcutta" to learn. I wish I'd heard Jimmy Smith around this time. I also played trumpet in the school band for about a month or two.

Radio Kid

I always loved music. I grew up with a transistor radio stuck in my ear (and they wonder where the brain damage came from). I also heard a lot of different music around the house. My folks were big on Satchmo. Ella, big band swing and Arthur Lyman, while Grandpa loved Sousa marches, but my transistor was tuned to the music of the 60's.

Every week, I listened to the Top 25 countdown to keep track of my favorite recording artists: the Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Kinks, the Animals, Dave Clark Five, the Byrds, Joni Mitchell, CSN&Y, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, all the Motown, just to name a few. There I was, an innocent little guy, just minding my own business, when...WHAM!!!

Here Comes Jimi!!!

Jimi Hendrix opened up my young ears (and the world's as well). This guy was making wild sounds with his guitar and I loved it!!! I got the album "Are You Experienced?" and wore it out listening to that crazy guitar-playing. I learned every riff off every song on every Hendrix album and would wow my friends with my own version of his pyrotechnics. It was truly my musical birth.

I learned that a guitar could be more than just a rhythm instrument. I was hooked on feedback and the wah-wah pedal and phase shifters and fuzz box and echoplex and the whole crazy madness. I began to become a real musician, and not just another kid with a guitar.

Rock God?

I must give credit to my friend Peter Criscuolo (rest his soul) who first got me playing in a band. We, along with Gary Dixon on bass and Jim Bumstead on drums, were the "Famous Nobodies" and played for local parties. I was the frontman; sang and played rhythm guitar and a little lead.

I remember doing a catholic school graduation once and the kids went crazy! This was my first taste of "fame" (a small, but enticing taste) and I liked it! We partied (perhaps, a little too much), were always jamming and learning new tunes (Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Foghat, the Allman Brothers, Chuck Berry, the Butterfield Blues Band, Cream, the Rolling Stones, and the like), had lots of "groupies" (well, I did for sure!), and had a hell of a good time!

I grew my hair down to my waist, spent my days at the beach, and nights playing music. It was one of the greatest times of my life and I'd go back and do it all over again without hesitation!!! The Nobodies eventually faded into obscurity, but one fortunate day, a whole new kind of music grabbed at my ear.

Fusion or "Just, uh, Confusion?"

The first time I heard Weather Report, I was amazed!!! It was their Mysterious Traveler album. I could hardly believe my ears! What glorious, beautiful, and powerful music!!! I got all their albums and dove into them with utter joy!!! There was also Chick Corea's original Return to Forever with Allen Holdsworth on guitar, and the Mahavishnu orchestra, and many other groups and players who caught my ear at this time.

I discovered instrumental music and its ability to conjure up emotions, capture mood and atmosphere, and effect the human heart and soul. It was a powerful discovery that now, completely refocused my thinking about music. No longer the young rock hero, I was now moving on to the more powerful and serious side of music-making!!!

Real Jazz

I think the first real jazz album I ever heard was Charlie Parker and Miles Davis doing some intense Bebop. I was flabbergasted and amazed! I discovered more harmonic and melodic possibilities than I'd known before and resolved myself to find out about it.

I enrolled in college in Santa Cruz (Cabrillo Junior College) and took basic piano, jazz improv, music writing and copying, jazz theory, and ravaged their music library. I walked in virtually blind and came out with at least a clue as to what was going on.

A few years later, I enrolled at UC San Diego and studied with Jimmie Cheatham for three years. Again, I studied jazz improvisation, history, music theory, composition, arranging and performance, but more seriously this time.

I had a wonderful experience there, writing for, rehearsing, and conducting the big band as well as our 5-piece combo, I graduated in 1985 with a BA specializing in Jazz Composing, Arranging, and Performance. The small group "Just Five" made a stab at turning professional, and we did get a few gigs, but never really got off the ground.

Becoming disillusioned with things and not making enough money to live on, I put music on the back burner temporarily and went through a period of menial jobs, confusion, and disgruntlement.

The Electronic Age

I worked with a synthesizer for the first time on a visit to my brother's place when he was living in Seattle. He had an Ensoniq EPS, and showed me how to work with it.

While he was at his day job, I wrote music with the sequencer and made some tapes. I was hooked!!! This was a whole new approach to music writing and I was inspired to get back into being a musician. Returning home to San Diego, I rented keyboards and wrote more music.

I spent virtually all my free time composing, arranging, and learning more about the creative process and myself as a musician. Eventually, I was able to purchase my own machine, oddly enough an Ensoniq like my brother had, and wrote a whole bunch of music.

This Computerin' Stuff

My good friend Gary convinced me to buy a computer and I began working with Cakewalk software. I downloaded all my Ensoniq music and began to compose and re-arrange. By saving all my pennies, I was able to spring for a Roland Super JV-1080 synth module which has some pretty good instrument sounds in it. I make do with what I have, but I would probably opt for real musicians with real instruments for a serious recording session. Until then, I post the results of my work on the website, and hope for the best.

The Future?

I honestly believe that I'm getting good enough at writing music to seriously consider it as a vocation and not just a hobby. I hope that by sharing some of my work on the web, I can demonstrate my talents and eventually become a professional, money-making musician. You may judge for yourself and please let me know if you like my stuff.

I would enjoy hearing from everyone who stumbles onto this site, so feel free to e-mail me with any comments, critique, advice, or guidance and thanks for listening!!!!!

Further inquiries should be sent to

MidiMarvl