Q: How did you begin creating music?
A: Had the calling at the tender age of 5yrs old. I did the usual neighborhood piano lessons. Was quite the rebel, resisting the teacher's methods. I always wanted to get to the creative part and not waste time with the fundamentals. I Did not like being told that I could not play a Beethoven Sonata because it was to advanced for me. I would learn it anyway (to my teacher's amazement) and as a special bonus would change passages that made the piece more interesting to me.

Q: What musician or musicians have inspired you the most? How about other artists or authors?
A: Leroy Anderson, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Bill Evans, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Henry Mancini, Beatles, Yes, Stevie Wonder, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Rodger S. Hart, Sergei Prokofiev, Hoagy Carmichael, Harry Warren, Irving Berlin, Max Steiner, Hugo Friedhofer, Peter Tchaikovsky, Sister Wendy Beckett, Carol Myss, Loretta LaRoche, and Tennesse Williams

Q: What do you want your music to communicate?
A: Inspiration to the listener.

Q: If you could jam with any artists, living or dead, who would they be?
A: The New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Pops, Jackie Gleason Orchestra, Desi Arnaz Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Barabra Streisand, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, Janice Joplin, Mahalia Jackson, Yo Yo Ma, Sumi Jo, Robert Plant, Judy Garland, Sara Vaughn, Peggy Lee, Toots Thieleman, Hi-Los, Florence Foster, Macy Gray, and many more.

Q: What record would you rescue first from a burning house?
A: Sergei Rachmaninoff's piano concerto #2 & #3.

Q: What's the most embarrassing album in your collection--your guilty pleasure?
A: The Bertha Butt Boogie

Q: What's your favorite book?
A.: The Seat Of The Soul

Q: What do you absolutely love and absolutely hate?
A: What I absolutely love is discovering a piece of music, a work of art, a book, a person that inspires me. What I absolutely hate is the promotion of mediocrity.