I began playing guitar at about twelve or thirteen. I had played the violin since being eight or nine. I remember a friend had a record of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, I had never heard anything quite like it and my friend showed me the most basic shuffle riff in E, I was knocked out with it. Soon the blues led to Louis Jordan, Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry, then I discovered Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Django and Dave Brubeck amongst others, then Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Wes and so on. I left a good job to join an Elvis band when I was twenty one and began a journey from one band to another, playing and recording all kinds of music with many different musicians in many different countries.
I always loved jazz but didn't really dedicate myself to it until I was about twenty six. Since then, I have played jazz continuously to the present day. Like many players, I have supplemented my gigs with teaching and I have always had a handful of private students, many of whom have gone on to be successful professionals . I now live on the Lincolnshire coast and love to mess around with boats when i'm not playing music.
