When did you start playing your instrument, and what or who were your early passions or influences?
"I started playing the alto sax at age 9 in the elementary school band program, and tenor sax at age 11 when I joined the jazz band at my middle school - that’s when I really started to love the saxophone and found my passion for Jazz. My teacher, Robert Knatt, turned me on to some great classic Jazz recordings, like John Coltrane’s Blue Train and Cannonball Adderley’s Somethin’ Else."