Background & Experience
Professional Experience
- 2003-2008 Four Seasons Hotel Chicago High Tea
- 1989-2007 Ritz Carlton Hotel Chicago Dining Room and Greenhouse
- 1987-1989 Barclay Hotel Chicago Barclay Club
- 1984-1987 Sheraton Chicago Kon Tiki Ports Lounge
- 1976-1979 “ Orphan” San Francisco Singer Songwriter Project
- 1973-1975 Deputy Dan - Danny and the Dirtballs Touring Show band
Musical Roots
Growing up, I bounced around quite a bit, musically. I dropped out of music school in my third year to join a touring club band that did rock covers and a tremendous 50’s act. Eventually, the band broke up and I moved back to the Midwest determined to do anything but music.
Gradually, I began playing piano again and soon found myself jumping from one Chicago hotel piano bench to another until I landed at the Ritz. For nineteen years I was a house pianist at Chicago's Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons hotels.
My long career as a pianist at Chicago’s premiere hotels has placed me in front of a diverse audience. I have performed at a formal dinner for President H. W. Bush, a Chicago Council on Foreign Relations reception for Chinese President Jiang Zemin, as well as The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, and Cardinal George. The list is as wide and varied as are the eminent guests who stay at these establishments.
I have played piano at corporate parties and events in every major venue in the city. In addition to my expertise as a pianist and vocalist, I have many compositions of my own and have extensive recording & mixing experience from 4-track analog to digital direct to disk.
Chicago Pianist Has Top Hit In Columbia
Interviewed by Columbian Radio Chingaza
"Este Valle de Fomeque" - 2001
I wrote the initial lyrics to this song as I left Fomeque, a Colombian mountain valley. Winding up the 12,000 foot steep spine of the Andes to return home the words came to me in less than an hour. The song is sung from the point of view of a distant Fomequeno, longing for the valley, it’s rivers and pure air.