When I was eighteen I took a job in a recording studio in Toronto called Thunder Sound. This was in the seventies. I spent a couple of years at this job. In the beginning I was the janitor/coffee maker but over time I became more involved in mic setup, tape operation and other recording duties.  I had the great good fortune during this time to be around to witness dozens of recordings led by Doug Riley. Most of these were jingle sessions; they encompassed all kinds of music and typically involved a room full of some of the country’s best musicians (including everyone in the Boss Brass). My big takeaway from this was that I became much more interested in the musicians in the studio than I was in the engineers and producers in the control room. And as impressed as I was with the musicians craft in the recording sessions, it was the jazz they played in the evenings in Toronto clubs that really got my attention. 

So I quit the studio and decided to invest my energy into flute playing. I took up the flute because I had a knack for it. Specifically I had a knack for G minor blues noodling - a very focused specialty in the flute world. I signed up for lessons and from there went to York University and hung around the jazz program there for a year, where I met a lot of talented musicians and ventured beyond G minor! 

I had been late getting into it; I was eighteen when I took up the flute, but I was dedicated to playing every day and I’ve carried that commitment through the decades. I realize now that I was lucky to have come along when I did as there were lots of opportunities to play in those days.  There were also fantastic listening opportunities, in addition to being able to hear established local musicians and touring jazz stars, I was exposed to an impressive group of next generation musicians who were also great. The scene could be a little intimidating, but mostly it was inspiring. 

What does a jazz musician do when they win the lottery? They keep playing until the money runs out!  Or so goes the old joke.  It occurred to me at some point that this might represent a sensible approach for my own jazz ambitions however lottery odds being what they are it would be prudent to build the jazz nest egg by getting a job. So the plan became: 

Work in the musical instrument business. 

Keep playing. 

Save money. 

Switch to full time playing…until the money runs out. 

And that’s where I am now. For several years now I have been making music combining a computer workstation, a keyboard workstation, EWI (electronic wind instrument) and flutes. In the beginning I just set out to create some grooves to practice with. Somewhere along the way the tracks became compositions often with arranged parts for multiple flutes and EWI’s. 

 I released the first collection of these recordings on an album called ‘Short Sleeve Pants’ in 2020. I released a second album called ‘Footman’ in 2022. A third album called 'Dream Wheelies' was released in 2023.  All of these recordings can be found on all of the popular streaming services. 

Whenever I’ve been required to specify a genre, I’ve listed these recordings in the “jazz” category, but I don’t really think of this music as jazz, since the flute solos are the only spontaneous elements of these pieces. “Jazz Adjacent” might be a more accurate description.  I’m alway amazed when offered a menu of genre options and there are dozens of Heavy Metal sub-genres but never the one I’m looking for which is something like; “Jazz flute player recording original jazz-rock-funk-world -fusion music by himself”, but this is not an established genre. But I'm pretty sure it will be the next big thing, in spite of the genre confusion.

Thanks for listening.