For the past several years, I've primarily worked with Irish and Scottish bands. In 1995, Seamus Egan called me to play on some tracks at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia that ended up on the soundtrack to the hit movie, "The Brothers McMullen." After that, I worked on a number of other recording projects including Seamus' solo CD, "When Juniper Sleeps", Cathie Ryan, Jerry O'Sullivan, Karan Casey and Whiligig. Greg Anderson from Whiligig suggested I learn to play bodhran, and he and Seamus both gave me bodhrans to practice on. That was very fortunate, as a couple of years later Bill Whelan asked me to work on Riverdance while they were on Broadway in New York, and had me play over 200 performances on bodhran, percussion and drumset. About that time, I started playing with Solas, and have since done several national tours with them.
Previous to all of that, I worked mainly as a jazz drummer in Denver, Philadelphia and New York. I was asked to put together a bio/resume recently, so in case you REALLY want all the nuts and bolts, here it is. |
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Bio/Resume
1982-1985 Lived in Denver CO, worked in area clubs and played concerts with Eddie Harris, Mose Allison, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Dakota Staton, Bruce Foreman, Jill Sobule, and The Boulder Creative Music Ensemble. Recorded two albums with blues singer James Van Buren, and worked with The Gravity Band, one of Denver's most popular Top 40 club bands at that time.
1985-1986 Toured with Polygram/Palo Alto recording group Rare Silk. Recorded "Black and Blue", released in 1986, an album that reached Billboard's Top 10 jazz charts. Performed at 1985 Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood. Played several shows with the great cornetist Nat Adderley , opened shows for Buddy Rich with vocalist Roseanna Vitro, recorded "Every Island" with Danny Heines and Paul McCandless, and "Between the Lines" with the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble, featuring Ron Miles.
1987 Split time between Denver and Phoenix AZ. Played several shows with R&B singer Mary Wells ("My Guy"), Concord Jazz artist Dennis Rowland, and did a number of jingle sessions.
1988-1989 Toured with Chicago-based pianist/vocalist Judy Roberts in Norway, Holland, Singapore, and throughout America, and at Joe Siegel's Jazz Showcase in Chicago with David "Fathead" Newman and Richie Cole. Performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and several festivals in the U.S.
1990 Worked full time with GRP artist Nelson Rangell. Recorded CD "Nelson Rangell", released in 1991.
1991-1993 Free lanced in New York City, and worked as production coordinator, editor, and consultant for DCI Music Video/Manhattan Music. Edited two award winning DCI instructional videos, "Drum Tips - Power Solos" and "Drum Tips - Developing a Groove.
1993-1996 Worked extensively with Concord Jazz artist Jimmy Bruno, recording two Concord CDs, "Burnin" and "Like That", with Joey DeFrancesco. Also performed with Concord Guitar Collective (Jimmy Bruno, Howard Alden, Frank Vignola), Dave Liebman, Frieda Payne, Greg Abate, Anne Sciolla, James Ridl, Dave Posmontier, Michael Pedicin, Jr. and many others.
1996 - 1999 Recorded with Shanachie artist Seamus Egan, including the Arista Records release "The Brother's McMullen", which remained on the world music charts for more than a year, selling over 100,000 copies, and "When Juniper Sleeps", a CD that also topped Billboard's World Music charts. Performed on National Public Radio show "Echoes". Recorded and co-produced modern rock CD "Stop That Noise", charted by several CMJ reporting radio stations. Other recordings include Shanachie artists Karan Casey,Cathie Ryan and Jerry O'Sullivan, Naxos Jazz artist Demetrios Pappas, Brazilian jazz group Siora (with Dan Kleiman, Phyllis Chapell, Pablo Batiste, Mark Addler and Chico Huff) and several others (see discography). Toured with both the Bennie and Angel companies of the Broadway musical RENT. Performed at the Blue Note in NYC with organist Gene Ludwig.
2000 - 2001 Played over 200 performances of "Riverdance On Broadway" at the Gershwin Theater in New York City, and played drums and bodhran on "Selections from Riverdance on Pennywhistle", published by Music Sales. Toured with American - Irish band "Solas" in America and Europe, and on numerous radio shows such as Mountain Stage, Echoes and World Cafe. Recorded with Whirligig, John Carlini Quartet, Zan Gardner, Jill Salkin and Cara Jones.
2002 - present Recorded and mixed the new CD by The McCabes, "Whatever Makes You Tick" at Manhattan Bridge Studios. Frequent live performances with the McCabes in NYC and on the road. Recorded with Martin and Marie Reilly, and on a new CD by Mary Rafferty. Numerous tour dates with Solas, including appearances on CBS Early Morning, NPR's Morning Edition and RTE's "Late Late Show. Numerous tour dates with the Bonnie Rideout Trio, the City of Washington Pipe Band and "Scottish Chrismas." Can be heard playing bodhran on Guiness television commercials "Have a Guiness anywhere."
2003- member of the "Ri-Ra", the house band at Nine Fine Irishmen at the New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
2004 - Back on the road with the Boyne company of Riverdance, loving every moment of it....cheers.
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