Faculty Biography

"I'm the jazz guy. Most of the students studying with me are coming from a jazz background, or they're interested in learning jazz. I get a lot of students from a funk background, or a rock-fusion thing.

"We don't have a set curriculum for the lesson. The lesson curriculum is based on the individual students' needs. We have a set final exam curriculum, in order to pass the lesson. We work on technique when the student is physically having problems on the instrument. Then there's what I call ear technique, when a student wants to study jazz but has never listened to jazz. I'll give a list of recordings they should listen to—that's a start.

"My approach is not the typical classroom textbook approach. I teach from all my experience, 45 years of playing the bass. I'm teaching from a practical point of view. I tell my students, 'This is what you can expect to happen on the gig, or on the recording session.' I'll take our proficiency curriculum and apply that directly to a particular song they're learning.

"The most rewarding thing for me is when the students decide to practice. Sometimes they put more weight on their classroom subjects. I'm trying to help them to be capable of handling any performance situation."