timothy:

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growing up in a musical family definitely shaped my ear and perception of music and the world.  one of the most satisfying things to me is creating music, whether it be practicing alone, recording, or performing with others.  i'm a drummer, primarily, but a musician even more than that...i love learning and playing new instruments.  (one type of) heaven for me will be unlimited time and space to learn: turkish classical, jazz, south indian percussion, brazilian pandeiro, greek folk clarinet, blues harmonica, lyre from constantinople (politiki), tuval throat singing, where does it end!?

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one of the best and most influential experiences for me was playing with rod buckner (aka 'bucky love') in 'buckner funken jazz' for a few years in denver, colorado.  rod is an exceptional trumpet player, a consumate gentleman, and was really like a dad to me (a young white college kid that had grown up in greece and was learning to play jazz, blues, and funk).  he was patient, kind, he got us jobs, he never did me wrong or left the band unpaid, and he always dressed well and acted professionally.  it was a pleasure to learn and play with rod, and of course with his little brother ron on bass!   thank you rod and ron for great music and lots of great memories, like opening for maceo parker in boulder.​

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another great learning experience was taking percussion lessons with doug walter of c.u.boulder.  some can play and some can teach--doug can do both very very well!  a great vibes and marimba player (classical and jazz on both), a surprisingly good drummer (cause how many instruments is a guy allowed to be great at?  this isn't meant as a left handed compliment, but i'll stop digging now), always professional, and always analyzing life and looking to find/make a lesson out of whatever happens.  i remember being motivated to start practicing 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 hours a day just to keep up with all the information and material doug would give me.  i never remember him saying directly to me that i had to practice more, but his person just seemed to demand it, and i responded-- thank god!  i also remember an aside comment after my first year with him, after i had been practicing many hours daily: "well, i guess we see that practicing works."  doug came to greece to visit me last year and i got to sit in on an exceptional masterclass (where one of my students had a lesson with him!) as well as play with him at cafe bazaar in thessaloniki.  i'm honored to have doug as a friend today.

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i've played with some great people, made some great music, and done a lot of shitty work too--musical and otherwise.  for the last two years of living in greece i played trumpet, percussion, and vocals with the latin trio aperito (playing brazilian, cuban, mexican, etc. music).  lina and danis are wonderful people and it was a pleasure playing together.  more like playing with family than anything.  people got that vibe from it too; it was quality, but there was a sense of comaraderie (parea) among us, and more often than not we were having a good time playing togther!  lina is a great musician, a sweet woman (and new mother!), and a sensitive soul--she also writes all the lyrics to the original tunes we played.  danis is a good leader, writes the best lead sheets i've ever seen, is a great bassist and a sharp dresser.  one of the things i miss most about leaving greece is them.