For over 25 years, I have played trumpet and piano, and most of those years as a jazz musician. In addition, I have played bass and guitar for over 20 years. Throughout high school and college, I took five semesters of music theory with high A’s in both classical and jazz theory. Through four years of high school, I played trumpet in the concert band, symphonic band, marching band, and jazz band. I also played bass in the jazz band and jazz combo. In high school, I won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. For two consecutive years, I won the Outstanding Soloist Award for the Jazz Combo Division at the Annual Jazz Conference held at Western Illinois University (WIU) in 2005 and 2006 playing upright bass. I also had the honor of playing trumpet in the District Jazz Band in 2005 and 2006 and played in the All-State Jazz Band at the 2005 IMEA All-State Jazz Conference. Entering into WIU as a double major in jazz trumpet and jazz bass with the top music scholarship (Dale Hopper Award), I studied under Dr. John Cooper who is a master jazz trumpet player, musician, and educator and has a Ph.D. from New York University in Music Composition. He has played with world renowned musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Jon Faddis, Duffy Jackson, Rosemary Clooney, Jerry Lewis, Tony Orlando, Lou Rawls, Rich Little, and the Temptations. While at WIU, I played bass in the top jazz band, the WIU Jazz Studio Orchestra, and in the top jazz combo. In addition, I played solo trumpet in the second jazz band. While there, I had the opportunity of playing with world famous jazz drummer, Duffy Jackson, and with the high profile saxophonist, Chris Collins. I also went on tour with the Jazz Studio Orchestra throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. Furthermore, I had the honor of regularly playing bass in the WIU Hopper Faculty Jazz Sextet as a freshman.

In addition to my formal training in high school and college, I have over 20 years of experience in Christian worship leading. Since I became a Christian, I have been playing on and leading worship teams. Primarily, I lead with either acoustic guitar or piano, though occasionally with electric guitar or bass. In the summer of 2007, I was the worship leader at a church camp called Jensen Woods Camp. During the 2007-2008 school year, I led worship for a student prayer and worship group called, “Focus” at Greenville College. In the summer of 2008, I served as a worship arts intern at Wesley United Methodist Church in Canton, IL. From August 2009 to July 2011, my wife (Paige) and I were the youth pastors at Great Commission Fellowship in Wilmore, KY. While serving there, we led worship weekly at youth group while also starting and leading a youth worship team. Many of them were novice musicians and beginners at their instruments and we had the privilege of training and equipping them to lead others into God’s presence through musical worship. I also served as the worship pastor at New Day Community Church in Versailles, KY for 3.5 years. Since finishing my PhD, I have served several churches in ministry where I lead the music on Sundays, at youth group, and other church events.

Overall, I have received numerous awards for outstanding musical performances, I have been highly trained in classical and jazz theory, I possess a vast amount of experience in music performance, and I love to teach and train others in music theory and performance.