I hold a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Music Performance (emphasis in jazz studies and ethnomusicology) from Bowling Green State University. I am a specialist in Haitian, Cuban, and West African based folkloric drumming and have done extensive fieldwork in West Africa, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the United States where I have studied and performed with several master musicians in the cultural context. I continue to study and perform traditional Afro-Haitian and Afro-Cuban music for dance classes and religious ceremonies throughout the greater New York City and Philadelphia areas, and present many performance lectures at Colleges and Universities on this music each year. I am currently Master Tambor for Sosyete Du Marche, an American Vodou house in Philadelphia. Apart from my world music background, I am an accomplished drumset artist, jazz vibraphonist (winning several awards nationwide for arranging and soloing), and symphonic percussionist. I travel extensively as a clinician for Latin Percussion, Yamaha, Sabian, and Vic Firth companies teaching and performing as a solo artist and as a member of several notable ensembles throughout North America, Asia, Brazil, and parts of Europe.
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