In addition to the scrolling blog you'll find below, you can jump from here to two ongoing projects:

CLICK HERE to go to the page for The Annual Top 10 Most Influential Albums list, a yearly wrap-up of favorite albums from me and a lot of friends, a tradition started in 1989 and going right up to now. It's a great way to discover new music, all of it favored by some incredible musicians who spend a LOT of time listening to music. Also on the page are assorted favorite lists.

CLICK HERE to go to the page for The Sonic Vistas of Perfesser Bomb, a website-only podcast that's a chance for me to play DJ and recall a lot of great music you may have almost forgotten as well as turn my friends onto great new music I find. There's no stylistic barriers, it's all just The Good Stuff.

I'm still ripping my old cassettes and found a great memory from 41 years ago today. This is the incredible Bobby Dickerson at Caesar's performing a tune he always did for me, along with George Mesterhazy, Gary Valducci, and a drummer I don't recall. "A Change Is Going to Come". Enjoy!

I'm digging through old cassettes and found this one, 2 songs by Jackson Browne and David Lindley from a surreptitious recording at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA sometime in 1975 or 6. Hasten Down the Wind and Long Distance Love . Enjoy!

A new year, and a new start with this website. I changed my hosting service to Hostinger after my rates skyrocketed, and so far so good with my limited web abilities. Heck, I'm still using Dreamweaver because it's what I know! Please let me know of any problems with this site. There's a lot of irrelevant stuff that's been taken out, and the whole thing seems to be sleeker. Anyway, WELCOME!

It's been over a year since I posted here, mostly because my old computer died and took all my webpage writing software with it. But I've regained control and will be adding things to this website.

What's going on these days? A lot of neat stuff. My Linda Ronstadt tribute band, the Ronstadt Revue, is gaining in popularity, touring, and playing sold out houses to standing ovations; my electric classical group, The Divine Hand Ensemble, has a brand new album of Piazzolla tangos in the can (that I arranged) and has signed a worldwide distribution deal; I'm still happily doing occasional gigs with the fantastic Paula Johns, with Barry Wahrhaftig and the Hot Club of Philadelphia, and with George Torrella's GT3 Jazz groups in the Lehigh Valley.

Also, I've redone my MIDI studio so I have access to all my most important instruments, and I've been inspired. Look for a new album of a collaboration with my old pal Ricardo Zayas, along with Josh Orlando on drums and possibly my son Miles on guitar. And I'll be posting stuff on my YouTube channel as I go. I've gotten into making videos of my one-man creations.

Thanks for coming here, and stay tuned!

Like every other musician, the pandemic of 2020 upended my career of live performance. I'm still careful about the gigs I choose to do, and I'm doing fewer of them, which suits me at this point. I'm not doing much solo work at all, but am working with the following groups:

• Ronstadt Revue This group is the best tribute group to Linda Ronstadt out there, featuring a crackerjack band and the amazing vocals of Gesenia Gerena. We've drawn the interest of several of Linda's old bandmates, and have been popping up all around the country.
• The Divine Hand Ensemble This unique contemporary classic group is led by thereminist Mano Divina and features a string quintet, 2 harps, tuned percussion, and me on accordion. I do arrangements with cellist Jon Salmon, and the repertoire is wide-ranging, covering everything from Mozart to Black Sabbath. We just released our first album, "Aria 51", and are currently recording our 2nd album, a collection of Piazzolla tangos arranged by me, entitled "Viva Astor!"
• Paula Johns This amazing performer and I have been playing together quite a bit over the last 6 years or so, and it is always a delight. Paula has shows featuring Dionne Warwick, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn, and her repertoire ranges from jazz to standards to pop tunes to gospel and beyond. Lately we've been doing duo shows, and I've been enjoying the incredible freedom she gives me.
• The Hot Club of Philadelphia Barry Wahrhaftig leads this swinging Gypsy Jazz ensemble and I get to play accordion in a jazz context with him occasionally. Playing everything from Django Reinhardt to the Beatles, Barry is a born raconteur and a total blast to work with.
• George Torella's GT3 Jazz Standards George is a drummer in the Lehigh Valley area and always guarantees a swinging straight-ahead jazz night, drawing in amazing musicians from the Allentown, Delaware Water Gap, and NYC areas.
• Musical Collusion Currently inactive, this blazing jazz fusion project featuring Carl Cox on sax has an album that came out just before the pandemic hit (Guilty As Charged). Even though we aren't currently performing, this project is the impetus for some outrageous writing, and we plan to rev it up with new material in 2023. You have been warned.
• The Night Cafe Don't count this group out yet! Allan Slutsky is a very busy musician and filmmaker, but I really believe I'm going to corner him and revisit this mandolin/ accordion/ bass trio sometime and play European cafe music, film scores, and light classics again

Add to all this fun the occasional one-off gig and the constant work on arrangements and recording of originals, and you can see I'm still active and out there. Come on out and check it out sometime!

Click here to hear a vintage piece by pianist Bernard Peiffer. Just as I was starting my 4th semester in college, trying to make a switch to piano from an accordion/clarinet background in a classical environment I couldn't relate to well, he came in blew the doors open for me of what was possible on piano. Combined with the incredible Al Stauffer on bass (a Philadelphia legend) and the wonderful, beloved Jimmy Paxson on drums, this concert in my own school's modest concert space resonates to this day for me. Click here to hear this incredible trio. I don't know the title, it was only the 6th piece they played on January 23, 1973.

If you liked that, you can download the entire concert HERE

Please go to The Pandemic Page for all the creative effort I'm applying from home in a time of no public performances!

In the past year, a lot of projects are blooming and coming to fruition. Currently, my group, The Ronstadt Revue, is beginning to play some gigs, and the response has been great. This is a live tribute to all the aspects of Linda Ronstadt's career, from the Stone Ponies to Nelson Riddle and her Spanish albums, and gives me chance to play other instruments and other styles. The band is smoking and the gig is fun.

Also, we just finished recording a new CD by singer Paula Johns, a tribute to the music of Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. We'll be playing my arrangements for this live with Andy Lalasis and Grant MacAvoy in various venues starting this summer.

Back in December, I recorded a bunch of compositions on solo piano by the New York trumpeter/ composer Brian Groder. He's made these recordings available on his Soundcloud page, so enjoy these. This is without a doubt one of the most challenging sessions I ever did, and one of the most rewarding.

The Divine Hand Ensemble, a classical ensemble with a highly unusual instrumentation, began performing my Frank Zappa arrangements I made for them recently, and the Zappa fans have been really positive on this. Expect more FZ coming through a theremin, string quartet, 2 harps, and a marimbist! And judge for yourself, there's a good video of a live performance of "Cleetus Awreetus Awrightus" on their website.

Add to this solo piano jobs, jazz dates with Paula Johns and other singers, sessions with George Torrella, and other surprises (last Saturday, a performance with the Philly Chamber Symphony doing a live soundtrack for "Jaws" at the Mann Music Center), and you have a very busy, happy summer. Thanks to all the musicians I work with, I'm a lucky guy!

I've been doing charts of Frank Zappa's music for the Divine Hand Ensemble and decided to go for a full "Uncle Meat" suite. I'm about half done...to see the video, click here as the score unscrolls using Sibelius software.

It's here! After seven years of development, I'm proud to release my new CD album to an unsuspecting world! Catch up with the full story of it right here.

This week, I sent the final art proofs and sound files off to DiscMakers in Pennsauken, NJ, and expect to get my physical CDs just after Christmas for release on January 1, 2017. The album is called "Busman's Holiday" and attempts to work with the methods pioneered by Teo Macero with Miles Davis, assembling jams into structures. It features great players: Chico Huff, Chris Farr, Brian Groder, Vic Stevens, and Miles Hartl. And I look forward to springing it on an unsuspecting world. If it's 2017 already, go over to the "Original Music" link and you'll find a dedicated page to the new album there.

I've charted 10 tunes for the new group and today finalized my keyboard setup. For the total keyboard geeks amongst my friends, here's a complete rundown and picture of what I'm using:

Keyboard Stack, from top:
!.) MacBook Pro running MainStage and Equator for RISE
2.) Roland V-Synth GT. Serves as controller for MainStage synths as well. Microphone provides control over vocoder effects.
3.) Yamaha CP4 Stage Piano. Serves as controller for MainStage synths as well. Korg Nano Controller sits on top, provides faders for synth control, buttons for triggering samples, etc.
4.) Foot pedals, from left to right: Volume for CP4 internal sounds, Volume for CP4 MainStage sounds; sustain pedal for CP4 performances; sustain pedal for V-Synth performances; Volume for V-synth MainStage sounds, Volume for V-Synth internal sounds. Blu-ray pedals for turning pages on iPad music app.

Right hand area:
1.) Music stand with iPad running MusicReader
2.) Seaboard RISE-25 controller
3.) Gig bag with Furman Power strip and Behringer mixer

Finally gave up on Bluehost and moved over to GoDaddy for host servers. Took a while to work out the transfer, but I'm back online and everything is functioning.

Gigs in the future include more fun with: the Fusion Jazz Trio featuring Vern Mobley and Brian Bortz; The Hot Club of Philly featuring Barry Wahrhaftig and the usual suspects; solo piano at the usual venues; duets with Craig Thomas, Bob Howell, and other great players; gigs with the marvelous and highly-admired singer Paula Johns as we put together a Dionne Warwick tribute; playing with the Victory Jazz Quartet with trumpeter Al Moretti; and casual dates with people like George Torrella, Colton Weatherston, and others. I'm having a blast working with these amazing players in a variety of situations, styles, and instruments! Come on out and check us out.

Things change in a month. My Motown tour fell through, meaning I'm playing in the area for the next two months and enjoying the variety. Also working hard on secondary instruments, plotting an all-accordion CD (yes, be very afraid), and continuing work on Weather Redux. Rehearsals begin in earnest in April, stay tuned!

Looks like a good year coming up. First of all, I'll be working as Musical Director and Keys I for a touring production called "Dancing In the Streets", playing throughout Canada and the upper states from March to mid-April. I thought these days were behind me, but I'm glad for the opportunity to hit the road for a little bit.

When I return, the #1 priority will be the launch of my new group Weather Redux. This features Chico Huff on bass, Mike Cemprola on saxes, and Anwar Marshall on drums. I've been having a blast reverse-engineering Josef Zawinul's amazing work, and a preliminary rehearsal last month made me realize how great this is going to be. Stay tuned!

I just finished up a massive reorganizing of this site. You'll find new pages focused on giving people a good overview of the music services I provide full time. Just go to the "Current Gigs" link in the top menu and link from there to pages featuring solo piano, group performances, accordion, studio work, transcription services, and more. There's lots of new content, so look around and enjoy it!

In addition to solo performances of all kinds, with Breckerville receding in my rearview mirror, I'm looking forward to my next major project. Stay tuned!

In acknowledgement of the 50th anniversary of the death of JFK, I'm putting up the best tribute ever. Please give a listen from The Mighty Sparrow's Calypso tune "The Death of Kennedy".

Hard to believe so many months slipped away. The Motown tour was extremely well received and we all await someone to provide the means for its continuance this winter. I spent the whole year in Lancaster at the American Music Theatre, playing an original production with some very talented people out there and planning to wrap it up with a final performance on October 12th. And on the jazz front, please go to the right and click on the "Breckerville" connection to catch up with the most exciting project that has come along in quite a while. We're kicking ass and taking names and having a great time doing it! I'll also be part of the production of "Nerds" in Philadelphia this December, a really funny and entertaining theater thing about Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the start of the Computer Age. Add the resurrection of The Night Cafe with Al Slutsky to the mix and I've got a lot to look forward to this fall!

March is bringing a great East Coast tour with my partner Allan Slutsky along with some well-known players joining together in a live Motown tribute. Come on out!

Having finished a successful run of "Les Miserables" at the Academy of Music in Philly this weekend, I look forward to the next series of jobs. Coming up along with the usual solo piano gigs (see the gig calendar on the "Performance" page) is a special premier screening of "Standing In the Shadows of Motown" and concert featuring my co-conspirator Allan Slutsky (who produced the film) and James Jamerson Jr., son of the legendary Motown bassist. This is a premier event kicking off an East Coast tour, coming soon to a theater near you. Springtime also brings involvement at the American Music Theater in Lancaster, PA, where I'll be working with the staff and crew to produce two new productions appearing throughout 2013. Stop on by!

Amidst the flurry of the holidays I managed to do my Top 10 List for 2012's most influential albums. You can find it on this webpage if you scroll down and look to the right. You can read the pdf or click on the audio file to hear examples of the music along with my blather.

Here's a shot of me playing the Barnes Museum opening gala with Steve Beskrone on bass from the NBC10 Philadelphia website. The following night, The Night Cafe serenaded the movers and shakers of Philadelphia as they admired the new galleries.

Just wrapped up an interesting semester at UArts teaching theater majors musical concepts and seem to be playing a whole lot more than I have in years, a very good development for me. Click on the Night Cafe for more information about that project and our upcoming performance at the opening night gala of the new Barnes Museum on Philadelphia's Parkway as well as our playing with the Ocean City Pops at a special tribute to Carl Mottola this summer.
I have also updated the resturant piano samples on this site and chances are you haven't seen a lot of new photos on the photo gallery page, either. More to come!

Just picked up my Fender Rhodes from RetroLinear, Inc., Tim Warneck's outfit in North Wales, PA. I got a very nice Mark I suitcase model from an Atlanta-based guitarist/ songwriter named Randy Bishop last spring, drove it home, and enjoyed it throughout 2011. It had thirty years of playing in it, though, and needed to be overhauled a bit, so I handed it over to Retrolinear last month. And today I am in hog heaven. This is unbelievable, the best Rhodes I have ever played in my life!
I'm planning to add a chain of Moogerfoogers to it (Ring Modulator, Cluster Flux, and Analog Delay) and top it off with a favorite synth. Give me time to enjoy the new axe and work on some things, I'll be posting some improvs using it before long.
Damn, this is sweet!

I'll be hanging in Philly a lot more over the next three months. I was just asked to teach music concepts to the freshman students of the Theater School at University of the Arts for the spring semester, and am looking forward to going back there. I've been coaching the Mingus ensemble and this new teaching responsibility will bring me into the city 2 more days a week.
I've been working hard on the next CD, The Main Squeeze, and look forward also to mixing and mastering half of the tunes in the coming month or so. Samples will be posted here under the original music page, so stay posted. In the meantime, I've added over a hundred new pictures in the photo gallery, so check in there as well. You might see youself from years back.

I made the official launch of this site today with a mass mailing inviting people to come. If you haven't been here before, check out the original music and photo gallery pages for the areas that will be most frequently updated in the future. I'll be digitizing my archives and making them available here. Also check out the News page in the right column for Top 10 lists that will be growing. Welcome!

I'm not a real web writer so I've been schlogging away at this site since August. It's now the first week of November and I've managed to get it online, just haven't gotten the subscription parts like email, guest book, and photo gallery to work yet.

So if you're here, realize you're at a site in transition. Come back in a week or so and everything should be complete!

With the new site, I've provided easy ways to keep up with the various things I do. There's been a nice mix of solo piano and Night Café performances mixed in with some classical orchestral, jazz big band, and commercial show gigs. Go to the Performance link and scroll down the page to the bottom for a gig calendar that I'll be updating constantly, and I hope i get to see you!