I wrote my first piece of music, a ditty entitled "DADDY-O", at age three; singing it incessantly to anyone who would listen. (A great believer in economy, 40 years later it was recycled for a baby segment on the Today Show). In 5th grade I picked up the Alto Sax and promptly got a wax apple stuck in the bell. My woodwind career suddenly over, piano lessons began with a certain Mrs. Marischini. She had a Beehive and was hot in a vintage Ann Margaret kind of way; unfortunately, I was apparently talented, and quickly outgrew her. My lessons continued, exposing me to a variety of increasingly eccentric teachers till, serendipitously, due to my dad’s being transferred to Cleveland, I got a chance to study with Jeff Hutton who played keyboards with pop super group "THE RASPBERRIES"(as in "Please Baby Go All The Way " insanely great melodic rock). He opened up my head to the world of improvising; and that was that. Returning to the Jersey Shore, I began formal composition and theory lessons with a rather unusual guy named Gilman Collier, he of the bare feet in the dead of winter and constant monokini wearage albeit at 300 plus pounds) and started playing in bands. Accepted as a Freshman composition major at Ithaca College, I began four years of intensive study with Pulitzer Prize Winning Czech composer Karel Husa; learning a lot and eventually graduating.

 

End of youth.