My professional career started at the age of fifteen in South Florida, my father was a band leader, I had the honor of becoming a friend of Cannonball Adderley gig with him up and down the east coast of Florida on what was known at the time as "the chittlin' circuit".

In 1966 I was playing at the Embers West on 49th St. in Manhattan. My trio at the time consisted of Paul Chambers on bass and Chuck Lampkin on drums. The trio became a house rhythm section there and during this period I played with jazz greats as Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Zoot Sims and the legendary Roy Eldridge.

Roy went around the corner to where Dizzy Gillespie was playing and told Dizzy "you got to come by and hear this piano player who is playing with me." Dizzy came by and heard me play a set, the next day he hired me to be the new pianist with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, a post I kept for the next nine years.

I’m still very active musically and quite busy gigging, recording, teaching, and running my Big Band “NY State of the Art Jazz Ensemble” . With this collaboration with PortfolioChest.com I hope to involve more young people in the knowledge and appreciation of Jazz. Feel Free to submit your work for posting to this niche or to create a niche for yourself or your band. I hope you will enjoy what you find here on PortfolioChest.com as well as on my own website http://www.jazzbeat.com

If you want to know more about my involvemnt with jazz check out this video interview