I teach jazz beginners: people who can already play an instrument but are new to improvising.

I really enjoy teaching because I always learn something. As far as jazz playing is concerned, I am not what I would consider to be a rare talent. I’m good, but I’ve had to work hard to get to this point, and I’m still improving. I think this gives me a good teaching perspective since I know exactly how I got here. While I lived in Toronto, I had lessons with some fabulous players; some lessons were wonderful, but most were kind of shallow. Great players don’t always know how they do what they do.

If you can already play an instrument (it really doesn’t matter which one), but want to improve your ability to improvise, than I can offer you an approach that worked well for me and will get you up to speed as quickly as possible.

My method is a combination of the most basic of the tools. We start with time and articulation – the keystones of proper swinging. Harmonically, it’s all related to mastering major scales, even for minor key tunes. That’s usually enough to get you started improvising. What you do after that is up to you. There is nothing about my method that limits you later – no shortcuts are taken.

My approach is collaborative. Once we cover the basics, I’m happy to work with you on what interests you. And we do lots of playing.

Lessons are approximately one hour long and cost $50. If you’re interested, please get in touch via my Contact page.