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            Born: Detroit, December '59

            1964: air guitar (I Want To Hold Your Hand)

            1969: cello

            1973: double bass

            1977: My 1st electric bass - a '73 Fender Precision Sunburst bought for $ 200 out of a guys trunk at the Venice Pier

            other instruments: voice, guitar, programming & DIY engineering

Background: Bless the heavens I have a very musical family.  My Mother played classical piano, Father played sax, Brother piano & guitar, Sister voice, my Uncle Shel Rott played trumpet and led an orchestra in Detroit.  He A&R'd for Motown & Capitol (worked with The Beatles) and also produced and wrote.  His partner Ricky Dee (Richard Drapkin) penned a tune "Devil in her Heart" that the Beatles covered on their 2nd LP, "With The Beatles".  Sheldon's wife Vickie Carroll and daughter Michelle sang professionally.  One of my cousins, Kirk Reznik co-founded the band The Phunk Junkeez.  Another cousin, Sharon Reznik is a classically trained pianist & composer who later worked in Jazz with guys like Gil Evans in NYC.  My Uncle Max owned a bar in Detroit and was of a patron of local musicans.  Here's a pic of Max with the King Porter Band, Detroit, 1940's.  Another cousin Michael is a DJ and my son, Ivan produces tracks.

For the most part I learned to play by ear, listening to a ton of vinyl at an early age from the Beatles, Louis Armstrong, movie soundtracks like West Side Story, Bacharach, Brubeck, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Miles, Bird, Sly and the Family Stone.  They say Charlie Parker dug CW.  Sir Duke said "there are only 2 kinds of music, good and bad".  I was exposed to all this great music at an early age and I thank my family first, for their good taste!  Also, growing up in the Motor City in the 60's was tremendous.  All this music floating in the air shaped my development, style and palette as did 2 bassists in particular, James Jamerson and Paul McCartney.

In '69 I played cello, then upright bass in '73.  In '76 I moved to Los Angeles.  After a Stanley Clarke concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium I decided to get serious about music and bought my first electric bass (where is she now....).  My first semi-pro gigs were in the late 70's playing in "the pit" for Musicals at Kentwood Theatre and Loyola Marymount University in Westchester, CA.  I got some reading chops playing those Sondheim classics such as "Company", "Follies" "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" etc..  In the 80’s I played in one of LA’s more popular (and eclectic) bands, “Doll Congress” co-founded by Michael Penn & Gabriele Morgan.  Bandmates were Patrick Warren (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, Liz Phair and a ton of others) and Raphael Gayol (Bodeans, Flatlanders, Tito and Tarantula, Leonard Cohen).  In '86 I married.  '87 had a son, my pride 'n joy.  In the late 90's I rekindled my love of Jazz and began studying it seriously.  Two overseas tours in '04 brought me to Tokyo and Hong Kong with Kaz Takeda (Creation, Felix Pappalardi) and Sunny Girl Yoko (who can bust a Temptations move like nobody's business!). 

Aside from a handful of some giving, musical folks I met along the way and tons of great recording artists to draw on, I'm primarily self-taught.  My main attributes: big ears and feel.

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