Among the unforgettable events that have shaped and directed my life thus far is the one I always go back to when I think about how this music thing got started. No, it wasn't seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964, as was the starting point for many musicians of my generation (though I was watching on that historic night when the world changed). My point of initiation happened a few years earlier.

Accordion playing elves.

My Italian grandfather had just returned to Connecticut, USA, from a visit to his hometown in Italy. He brought back with him two identical children's sized accordions, one for then six year old me and one for my five year old brother. As we sat watching, my father, then and now a professional musician, took one out of it's case and proceeded to play some Italian favorites. He then asked if we boys would like to take lessons and learn to play these things. We both said "yes" and that's when it began.

Although my brother decided, some years later, that making music was really not his thing, forty-some odd years after those accordions came to America, I am still playing. I've been doing it professionally for almost thirty years.

I started my first band when I was in the fifth grade, still playing the accordion, but soon became aware of how uncool the accordion was in the new world of rock and roll and electric guitars. So, I taught myself how to use both hands on the piano keyboard and started playing piano and organ. I also taught myself how to play the trumpet and the vibraphone (also known as the vibes; my dad's main instrument at the time). I began singing and writing songs at about age thirteen and by the eighth grade was playing organ, trumpet and singing in a seven member horn band with a repertoire heavy in Chicago Transit Authority (later known simply as Chicago) and early Blood, Sweat and Tears.

In the years following, I had the good fortune to play with and learn from many wonderful and talented musicians. I've worked as a solo and in bands of my own, as well as a sideman in the bands of others, playing in many musical styles and settings. I stayed based in the New York Metropolitan area until I was in my early thirties and then began a series of moves to various parts of the US, including Alaska and Hawaii. It was a move from America's East coast to Santa Barbara, California in 1996 that began a new and important phase of my musical life.

Just before moving to California, after almost completely ignoring the accordion for some twenty-five years, I had started playing the instrument again, just for myself. I liked the way it sounded and the expressive qualities made possible by the bellows. I wasn't sure that I would actually start playing it in public, however.

In Santa Barbara, I met multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, recordist and producer David West. David asked me to play accordion on a few tracks for a local artist he was producing and also invited me to participate in the making of a number of the Pickin' On series of bluegrass CD's he produces for CMH Records. He wanted me to play the accordion as well as the piano and organ on the bluegrass CD's. Before this time I had never played on a "real" record. This was a turning point for me. I now appear on more than twenty of the "Pickin' On" CD's along with many very fine (and some relatively well known musicians), including David West himself. I believe that's when I started to think seriously of the accordion as a performing instrument for myself. I began performing live in Santa Barbara with David primarily on piano, but played the accordion on some of the songs we were doing. It wasn't long after that point that the accordion became my most prominently featured instrument.

After a year and half in Santa Barbara, I moved to Los Angeles and there met several key people who helped me get established in that great music city. One of the most helpful was the very talented bassist Chad Watson. Chad and I hit it off musically and personally and he introduced me to many musicians on the country music scene in and around LA. The accordion fit well in that setting and I was having a great time working with many of the wonderful country players that perform in the greater Los Angeles area. At that point, I was definitely an accordion player.

Chad also brought me to the home and recording studio of Delaney Bramlett who's late 60's/early 70's band with his then wife Bonnie: Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, included at times such Friends as Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Duane Allman, Jimi Hendrix, Dave Mason and Billy Preston. Over the course of several months I played on several tracks for Delaney's then current CD project, on two albums by Delaney protégé David Ralston, and a track each for Delaney's daughter Becka Bramlett and for guitar great Albert Lee. I also played on several independent CD projects by local LA artists during this time period.

There are many others who were very helpful to my progress; (in particular: Dave Bourne, Drew Daniels and David Jackson. My apologies to those whom I am not mentioning here.) one person led to another and before long I had the good fortune to play for a few months with Cajun/Zydeco artist Lisa Haley and her band The Zydekats. In my short time with the band I played with a number of terrific musicians and learned a great deal. Lisa was also very important in opening the door for an entirely new chapter of my life: my move to Japan.

It was Lisa who recommended me to Disney Entertainment in California when asked about an accordionist to play at the then soon-to-opened Tokyo DisneySea theme park. That was in mid-2001. I jumped at the chance to go to Japan and the job at DisneySea was wonderful for me in many ways. I played at the park for sixteen straight months and by the time it was over, I wanted to stay and live in Japan a while longer. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to do so and I lived and worked in Japan for a total of 7 years, finally moving back to the United States in 2008. I have been back to Japan twice since then, for 3 month playing engagements in hotels in Matsuyama and Kyoto.

I've been living in the Wilmington area of North Carolina for more than 2 years now. My current focus is the work I do in my studio, creating and recording accordion and keyboard parts for the productions of other artists along with writing and recording my original material.