Music

Music has been a constant since before I can remember, and jazz piano is the hobby I most hope to keep carrying forward. I started piano lessons at five and worked through classical repertoire into 12th grade. Alongside it I played trumpet in concert, marching, and jazz bands.

In college someone asked me, quite prematurely, to play piano in the jazz combo, and I suddenly had to learn voicings and improvisation on an instrument I had almost no jazz facility with. That thrown-in-the-deep-end pressure is what pushed my playing to a passable level, along with three summers at the Jamey Aebersold jazz workshop.

When I moved to San Diego I found my way into the local jazz scene: small, tight-knit, and full of seriously good players. Once again I got talked into sitting in at jam sessions I had no business sitting in at. But that's the fastest way to improve: be the worst person on stage.

These days I play twice a month in a house band at a session near my neighborhood: a house set, then backing the other jammers who come up to play with us. I'm not a professional musician, but I get enormous joy out of playing jazz piano. If I ever find myself with more time, I'd love to make it my retirement job.