Saxophone | Keys | Arranging

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I would love nothing more than to be a member of Sting's band ca. 1985 so I could learn from the likes of Kenny Kirkland, Branford Marsalis, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, and Mr. Sumner himself. The greatest "pop" band that ever walked the earth!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Listen, and mix, at low volume levels. This is how you can balance the big-picture concept with the zoomed-in details.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: My background is in jazz, funk, soul, rock, RnB, and fusion, and I work most often in those styles. I've been fortunate to work with a number of influential artists in those realms, as well as hip hop, gospel, reggae/dancehall, Brazilian, and Cuban traditions. There are plenty of electronic and pop artists and producers I enjoy, too!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I do have reasonably freaky ears. If you send me a complicated, note-dense composition with angular lines all over the place, chances are good that I'll be able to transcribe and recreate it on any of my instruments pretty quickly. But the bigger picture benefit here is my ability to listen to the concept of a song or composition and create and/or execute arrangement layers that help give it depth, sophistication, energy, and life.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: As a composer myself, I have tremendous respect for the role of the writer in every artistic field. My goal as a session musician and arranger is to find the right sounds and parts to serve the concept of the song itself.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: By the time a client sends me a project here on Soundbetter, they usually have the form and foundation of their track in place: the song form and drums/bass/guitar (or MIDI placeholders for those) provide context for me to add whatever arrangement layers need to go on top to bring it to life. This can include piano, electric piano, or organ accompaniment; saxophone/flute arrangements or improvised fills; or carefully layered synth pads and leads. Some clients write out a specific keyboard, saxophone, or woodwind parts via MIDI demo or old-school sheet music, which is always lovely! Regardless, clients who hire me should feel free to provide as much verbal detail as they want regarding what they need for their production. Reference recordings are always very helpful, too: if you've hired me, the chances are good that we have similar taste in music! I'd love to help your song approach the quality of our mutual heroes.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I record in a professionally-treated room with state-of-the-art equipment. I use and love microphones by Neumann, Austrian Audio, Beyerdynamic, and more; top-end preamps and converters by RME; powerful software by Spectrasonics, Arturia, Native Instruments, Spitfire, and nearly anything else you could think of. I use an intentionally hybrid workflow that involves the best of acoustic, analog, and digital audio designs. Most importantly, I've spent countless hours getting to know my environment and getting the best out of it.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: I'm heavily inspired by the great artists, writers, and musicians of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s: The classic bands assembled for live tours and studio sessions by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Chaka Khan; Weather Report, Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters, Return to Forever, the Mahavishnu Orchestra; anything Prince, Miles Davis, or Quincy Jones ever touched. I also have a deep love and gratitude for a broad range of the great composers and songwriters of numerous traditions and genres: Maurice Ravel, Wayne Shorter, Paul Simon, Sergei Prokofiev, Joni Mitchell, Claude Debussy, and on and on.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: I typically provide professionally recorded saxophone, keyboard (piano, electric piano, organ, synth), and woodwind (flute, clarinet) parts as specified by each client. Some clients need me to arrange parts, while others have specific written parts already in mind, and I enjoy working either way. Additionally, I'll often provide energetic improvised solos on any of the above instruments, but most frequently tenor saxophone, with multiple options and revisions available per project.