Me and Music

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At the outset I didn't have any ambition toward music. Like my father, I wrote poems, but I didn't feel they were strong enough on their own. Music was the water I could pour onto my verses to make them grow. Gradually, I became a songwriter, a singer and a guitar player.

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I've been gratified over the years to hear my tunes and words come out of the mouths and instruments of some incredible, even world-class, musicians. Christine Duncan lent her astonishing voice to my songs from the mid-to-late 1990's. Michael Friedman, who

I co-wrote with from 1996 to 2005, still uses our songs as a vehicle to showcase his amazing guitar style and fine voice. Christine and Michael have recorded several albums containing my work and this has given me some of my greatest pleasure as a songwriter. Michael's and my work has now been played by full orchestras in Europe.

As far as my own performing goes, I have worked mostly in solo, duo and trio formats. I toured and recorded with Christine Duncan in the late 90s as a duo act. In 1999 I joined Michael Friedman and Mark James Fortin to form a trio called FFM which wrote and toured from 2001 until 2007. I've also recorded three albums in various configurations with master free-jazz drummer Bobby Kapp.

Just as songwriting has led me to performing, it has also led me to producing. Over the years I've managed to fit a few dates in as a producer with projects ranging from the sparse, haunting and hilarious WRONG by Scott Katz to a nationally broadcast Canadian concert/documentary film portrait Coming Home: Christine Duncan at Christ Church Cathedral featuring a 17 piece jazz orchestra.

I also sporadically teach guitar and songwriting and have been on faculty at the Georgia Straight Guitar Workshop and the Moveable Music School. I enjoy teaching guitar and am always looking for new ways to communicate musical ideas.

Here in Berlin, where I've been living since 2007, I play music with my German friends and do a little songwriting—but I have yet to record. Projects that are burning inside these days include an album of taijiquan practice music and a recording of melodies I've written for the births of my nieces and nephews.

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As the great sage said, "Don't die with your music still in you."