Bio
I am a native of Cullowhee, North Carolina, a small town of 6,000 people in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. The experience of growing up in such a place shaped my love of nature and love of community. Growing up, I had a strong interest in music and took piano lessons. Although I was decent at piano, I also tried my hand at drums, clarinet, accordion, and mandolin, but none of those stuck with me like piano. I also had an interest in technology, specifically audio and radio equipment. This culminated in me cobbling together a “radio station” to broadcast music, and my announcing around my parents' house from spare equipment my uncle lent me and thrift store finds.
I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for high school. For those who don’t know, NCSSM is a state funded boarding school with a focus on the STEM fields and is located in the middle of Durham, North Carolina. This marked a big change for me since it was the first time I lived outside of the mountains and in an urban area. During this time, I started taking jazz piano lessons from my first great mentor, jazz pianist Pavel Wlosok. His teaching revealed worlds of nuance and creativity in jazz music that I had only glimpsed and laid a strong foundation for how to approach jazz. Despite the strong STEM background NCSSM provided me, with my parents' encouragement, I followed my passion for music in college by attending Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music as an undergraduate. Here, I further honed my skills as a jazz pianist by studying with Luke Gillespie and Joe Gillman. However, the side of me that loved recording and audio technology still nagged at me. By my second year, I decided to put it to rest by applying for the Audio Engineering program. By the end of my time at IU, I earned two degrees in five years: a BM in Jazz Studies and a BS in Audio Engineering, all while maintaining a 3.95 GPA.
My education in both audio and music set me up surprisingly well for the next opportunity that landed in my lap: becoming the A/V and Music Director at Sylva First United Methodist Church. This started with the church hiring me to finish the installation and configuration of their sound system in their newly renovated sanctuary. However, a short time later in the spring of 2020, the previous music director retired, and the COVID-19 lockdowns began. With 3 days' notice, I had to configure the church for live-streaming from the ground up. As lockdown continued, this expanded into on-location sermons, remote musical collaborations, and producing video/audio content on a weekly basis with tight deadlines. This was the best way I could’ve spent my time during the pandemic. I was so incredibly busy I didn’t have to think about what was happening. As church shifted back to in-person worship again, my role pivoted into becoming the leader of the praise band, the director of the chancel choir, and training others on the livestream technology.
I spent four fulfilling years in this role until I decided it was time to learn more about music again. Outside of church, I had been playing piano with the jazz group We Three Swing and acting as their arranger. This sparked my curiosity about arranging in general and how to write for larger and larger ensembles effectively. I ultimately decided to pursue jazz studies and arranging as a master's student at William Paterson University in New Jersey. At WP, I furthered my skills as a jazz pianist through mentoring with Bill Charlap, Joe Farnsworth, and Dayna Stephens, among many others, and dove into arranging with the incredible Pete McGuiness, Cecil Bridgewater, and Ed Neumeister. After two years, I graduated with distinction from the program, keeping a perfect 4.0 GPA.
As a musician, my two greatest strengths are my abilities as a pianist and arranger. As a pianist, I have played with many different groups in many different genres, including jazz, singer-songwriter, funk, top-40, and cuban/salsa. These have included We Three Swing, Cara Morgan, Kassidy Blount, the Blue Ridge Big Band, The Remnants, Indiana University John Raymond Big Band, Indiana University Latin Jazz Ensemble, the Pat Harbison Group, Joe Galvin’s Danzón Ensemble, Los Niños de La Noche, Double Standard. As an arranger/composer, I have had the pleasure of writing music for orchestra, jazz big band, jazz octet, and other smaller instrumentations. Some notable groups I have arranged for include the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra, the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra, the Blue Ridge Big Band, and the IU Brent Wallarab Jazz Ensemble.
As an audio engineer, A/V technician, and videographer, I always bring my musician’s mentality to the technical projects I complete. For me, this means being aware of the artistic intent of who I work with and supporting their vision to the best of my ability. My wide technical skill set encompasses studio recording, mixing, live sound, video, livestream management, and music production. I honed my technical expertise through my education at Indiana University, ten-plus years of freelance recording projects, five years of managing livestream/video at Sylva First United Methodist Church, and two summers working as an audio engineer for Interlochen Center for the Arts. My experience encompasses livestreams of concerts, classical recitals, singer-songwriter projects, big bands, and alternative rock groups. I have recorded and produced music with artists such as Joshua Mercado, Grayscale Whale, The Reliably Bad Band, Soneros de la Caliza, We Three Swing, and ExWo. As a live sound engineer, I have provided audio reinforcement for Cherokee Central Schools, the Folkmoot Center, and numerous churches.