UNT professor of jazz studies. His youth in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1960s and 1970s including his music education at Baltimore County Public Schools, and the musical influence of the Left Bank Jazz Society. His experience as a UNT student in the jazz studies and music theory programs (1981-1986), playing saxophone in the One O’clock Lab Band and at venues around Denton. His research as an ethnomusicologist studying Cuban and Brazilian music and work as a professor at Western Illinois University (1992-2001) then the University of North Texas (2001-2020) where he served in faculty and administrative roles to further develop the jazz studies program and help preserve the program’s history.