Where did you grow up?

I was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and grew up just down the road in Chippewa Falls. Eau Claire was know as a city of industry with companies such as Uniroyal Tire as a major part of the economy. Chippewa Falls is the home of Leinenkugel’s Beer, Chippewa Spring Water and Cray Computer. In the movie “Titanic”, Leo DiCaprio’s character claims he is from Chippewa Falls, WI and grew up ice fishing on Lake Wissota. However, Lake Wissota is a man-made lake that didn’t exist until five years after the Titanic sank. I wrote an original song about it titled “Lake Wissota Didn’t Exist When the Titanic Sank”. Very original.

How old where you when you began playing the saxophone?

After beginning on the clarinet in the sixth grade, I switched to saxophone at the age of 14. I immediately knew that it was the instrument I was meant to play. I still play the clarinet frequently for work, but from that moment on the saxophone was my voice. I primarily played alto saxophone throughout school until after I completed my Master’s Degree. Professionally, I began to get more calls for tenor saxophone around this time, and as I explored the tenor sax more, I fell in love with it. Today, I consider myself a Tenor Saxophonist, but also a multi-woodwind artist.

what kind of mouthpiece do you use?

Soprano-MacSax Bob Sheppard

Alto-MacSax Bob Sheppard

Tenor-Vintage Otto Link Slant Signature, Retro-Revival Tru-Slant

Bari-VanDoren V16

what kind of reeds do you use?

I’m proud to say than I am a D’Addario Woodwinds Performing Artist. I’ve been using Rico/D’Addario reeds for at least 25 years, perhaps longer. For my jazz setups I prefer Select Jazz 3M unfiled. For my concert setups I prefer D’Addario Reserve 3 or 3.5.