About
The journey began in rural Japan, on finding an alto saxophone at my lodgings back in 1993. A quirk of fate. It was a love at first sight/touch/sound thing. By bicycle, then later on a Kawasaki Eliminator, I took the horn to the hills and the bamboo thickets and taught myself to play. A balaclava and fingerless gloves were my protection against the mosquitoes in the heat of summer and again in winter against the bitter cold. In spring and autumn, I made progress. Within a year or so I was out gigging with local bands in the city of Kochi before meeting a Japanese pro who suggested I move to Tokyo.
Years later in England, a specialist woodwind store very kindly gave me a tenor sax to trial until I had enough funds to buy one of my own. The physicality of its larger size and its deeper tones instantly seduced and it became my go-to horn. When out in the countryside on a day without rain, you might hear the sound of a saxophone in the distance. I often use the open fields as my studio to really put air through the horn and develop my sound.
Aside from performing solo, I also teach sax/piano and play in high-octane function band What The Funk.
I live near Henley-on-Thames.