As a teenager living near to San Francisco I was able to freelance, playing in bands or playing for theater. Later I moved to Los Angeles and did everything to do with playing and recording I could. Accompanying songwriters, Theater and Comedy influenced my music, as did a few years work as a film sound-effects editor.
I began leading a piano-bass-drums trio. I/we recorded Dreaming, an album mostly of standards, and What We Have, an album of my own music.
In 2010 I began performing three-four nights a week with my group. We developed a collective voice playing recent pop and indie music. While covering other people’s music we developed our own identity as a group.
We recorded The Best of All Possible Worlds and Rocket Science, trio albums with well-known or obscure covers and some original music. Both albums had some success on American and Canadian radio stations. I traveled to Scotland to perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
I emigrated to Germany in 2013. Life in California had become more difficult after the 2007 economic crisis and I was seeking a better quality of life. It took a while to re-establish myself as a performer.
I recorded Chromakey Dreamcoat in California and produced Songs, a collaboration with Sophie Bancroft (UK).
During the Corona lockdown I started “remixing”, over-dubbing to music or video available through Creative Commons. Response from the artists involved was positive and led to collaborations. I recorded improvisatory music with piano and electronic elements, filmed or edited video to go with the recordings, released them on YouTube. Re:dbs was a collaboration with UK ambient artist sevenism. Then (and after) included further collaboration with sevenism, vocalist Iokokanoa (DE) plus California colleagues Jerry Kalaf and Barry Coates.
Lately I’ve tried to go deeper with some of the eternal challenges of musicians — things like playing in every key, memorizing songs, learning music by ear. I’ve taken lessons, am enjoying practicing and studying.
Heartfelt was a nice duo project with vocalist Sharon Anegg (AU). We perform in and around Vienna with Gina Schwarz.
Mood Music was recorded in Los Angeles with old friends and colleagues Jerry Kalaf and Domenic Genova, inspired by the sentimental orchestral versions of songs my mother enjoyed. The album might seem like a 180-turn from music that interested me earlier in life, but so be it 🙂
