My early music training was courtesy of the Seattle Public Schools. During high school I was also able to take private lessons from the great Jazz bassist and composer Gary Peacock. I went to Cornish College of the Arts and studied with Bay Area ex-pats Roger Nelson, Thomasa Eckert, Janice Giteck, Jerry Granelli and Julian Priester. While studying classical composition in college, I was also playing Jazz gigs around the Seattle area. In 1988 I moved to Berkeley, and soon formed the band Planet Good, with Scott Amendola and Trevor Dunn, and then T.J. Kirk with Charlie Hunter and Will Bernard. T.J. Kirk got signed to a major label, released three records, and toured for a year or two. Meanwhile Junk Genius had formed, with Trevor, Ben Goldberg and Kenny Wollesen, and this group toured in Europe and released records on Knitting Factory and Songlines. Other people I played with during these years include the Rova Sax Quartet, John Zorn, Tom Waits, Ledisi, and Peter Apfelbaum. I have four records under my own name, on Tzadik, New World Recordings, and my own label Smash the State! In 2002 I taught for a year at UC Berkeley, including an upper-division seminar on Duke Ellington. I've been a frequent guest with the Paul Dresher Ensemble, including performances all over the United States of Steven Mackey and Rinde Eckert's opera Ravenshead. Other current bands include the Baguette Quartette, Sarah Wilson’s Kaleidoscope, and the Compositions of John Coltrane Band. My group The Actual Trio plays the first Sunday of every month at the Actual Café in Oakland.