ROCK

Like most kids growing up in the eightees the first music I really got into was the rock and pop music of the day. I was an avid follower of the top 40 and enjoyed most of the stuff that was coming out at the time. Also, my parents had a very large and varied record collection and would have music on around the house almost constantly.

The big turning point for me was flicking through their records and finding “Led Zeppelin II”. I can’t remember what prompted me to put it on in the first place but once I heard the opening bars to “Whole Lotta Love” I was hooked. That was the music that made me want to take up the guitar (up until that time I’d wanted to be a drummer) and about six months later my mum bought me my first electric. Through Led Zeppelin I got into other hard rock bands like Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Cold Chisel, Van Halen, Guns and Roses and Queen. I’m also a huge fan of The Beatles, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Band, Dire Straits, The Meters and countless others that I can’t think of right at the moment.

JAZZ

Ever since I started playing the guitar (from about the age of 12) I’ve been interested in the nuts and bolts of harmony, rhythm and improvisation and I think that’s what eventually led me to start checking out jazz. The first jazz I really liked I guess would fall under the category of “mainstream”. People like Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, James Morrison, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond and the like. Then it was the be-bop and hard-bop guys – Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley etc etc. Then through my first guitar teacher I heard John Scofield and that really changed my life. John was the first guy I heard that showed me jazz guitar could sound as exciting and fluid as a saxophone player (if not more, actually), and I spent a lot of time trying to sound like him. At the time I was transcribing a lot of Michael Brecker and John Coltrane which also had a huge impact on my playing. Some of my other big influences include Allan Holdsworth, Pat Metheny, Wayne Krantz, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, Bill Frisell, Scott Henderson, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Gary Thomas, George Benson, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Art Pepper, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Tony Williams, Vinnie Colaiuta, Jack DeJohnette.

OTHER MUSIC

As well as jazz and rock music I’m a big fan of classical music (just about anything from medieval to 20th century composition), I also love country, bluegrass, blues and celtic music.

AUSSIE HEROES

Over the years I’ve been very fortunate to play with a lot of Australia’s finest musicians a lot of which have made an enormous impact on my playing. So, off the top of my head here’s a few of them (there are quite a lot more). If you live in Australia or are visiting, make an effort to go and check some of these guys out.

GUITARISTS

Jim Kelly, Nick Panousakis, Carl Dewhurst, Steve McKenna, Peter Zografakis, Arne Hanna, Steve Magnusson, Steve Brien, Ben Hauptmann, Aaron Flower and Ian Moss.

DRUMMERS

Andrew Gander, Chad Wackerman, Simon Barker, Hamish Stuart, Craig Naughton, Nick McBride, Felix Bloxsom, Danny Fischer, Terepai Richmond, Michael Iveson, David Jones, Kere Buchanan, Gordon Rytmeister, Craig Simon, Evan Mannell

SAXOPHONISTS

Dale Barlow, Tim Hopkins, Roger Manins, Blaine Whittaker, Willow Nielson, Andrew Robson, Bernie McGann, Chris Soole, Ian Chaplin, Jamie Oehlers, David Rex

PIANO/KEYBOARDS

Sean Wayland, Matt McMahon, Mark Isaacs, Mike Nock, Sam Keevers, Greg Coffin, Mark Fitzgibbon, Paul Grabowsky, Joe Chindamo, Gerard Masters, Stu Hunter, Scott Saunders.

BASSISTS

Brett Hirst, Matt Clohesey, Nick Sinclair, Steve Hunter, Sam Dixon, Alex Hewetson, Phil Stack, Brendan Clarke, Phil Rex, Dane Alderson, Ben Robertson, Leon Gaer.

BRASS

Phil Slater, Scott Tinkler, Matt Jodrell, James Morrison, Dave Panichi, James Greening, Toby Mack, Jeremy Borthwick