I started played guitar from 9 years of age,quickly i learned to love music by learning Folk and Calypso styles as my first teacher,Karl Alfred,was from Trinidad.
His wonderful inspiring teaching method and songs made me dream of Islands and sunshine and tropical birds and suddenly i was transported to another world at a young age.

I progressed quickly,in spite of the cheap second-hand guitar that my parents provided me with but it was a very suitable instrument as it happened,small enough and with Nylon strings.

By the time i reached 14 years old i was becoming interested in Jazz and moved to a private tutor who also taught me Classical and Rock as well as Jazz.

After years of practice and completing my school education finally it came time to leave secondary school,just before leaving school i was called into a career guidance meeting at the school...."What job do you want to do when you leave school?"the career guidance teacher asked...i replied "I want to become a professional guitar player"...this didn't seem to be a satisfactory answer for him and he tried to dissuade me and he said"Perhaps a job at the Bank or in Government would be better"..i refused his suggestions and wouldn't move from my already chosen career path,i was 18 years old.

When i left the school i applied for a job in Waltons music store in the city and they hired me after an interview and suddenly i was wearing a suit and selling guitars..on my very first day a customer arrived in and asked to look at an expensive Les Paul Goldtop from behind the case.When i handed it to him to try it he confessed that he could not play but would like to hear me play..after a minute of listening he suddenly said"I will buy it!"..and so i made an expensive sale on my first day!

The music shop was a great environment for meeting other musicians and learning how to use the equipment and musicians i had met would often drop in for a tune and finally we started to form a band and playing live shows around the city while i was also still working.
Sometimes these shows ran late in the evening and i would have to stay overnight in the city as i lived quite a distance away,fortunately it was sometimes possible to stay with a friend in Trinity College and then straight into work at the shop from there.

After some years of playing concerts around Dublin the Jazz band we had formed together decided to relocate to Copenhagen,Denmark,as it was the Jazz Capital in Europe in the early 1980's.This was a big move as we were still in our 20's and had never been to Denmark,what an adventure!Finally i was going to tour for the first time as i had dreamed about.

After much planning we arrived in Denmark and rented an apartment together and began to plan our Danish musical life.
However reality kicked in soon and all found that we had to work tough day jobs to suppliment our dwindling funds and rent.

 

We discovered the amazing
Montmarte Jazz Club in the city and on the weekends went there regularly to watch the International bands playing there,everyone from Chick Corea,Brecker Brothers,Steps Ahead,Elaine Alias,Gary Burton,John Abercrombie we saw there,all our musical heroes were right in front of our ears!

It was a great experience for us and we were inspired by these shows we started to practice more and more and develop our playing skills while working our jobs at the same time.

After a wonderful year in "Wonderful,Wonderful,Copenhagen"it was time to for me to return to Ireland....

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