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As a young boy John studied
piano and as a teenager he
picked-up the guitar after
hearing the Beatles who were
a big influence on his music.
After hearing the Mahavishnu
Orchestra his musical
interest broadened into Jazz,
World and Classical music. He
studied Jazz guitar with a
passion and took lessons from
Jazz guitarist Robert Conti
in Florida. He began studying
a variety of guitar styles,
including finger picking,
classical, Brazilian, etc.
His interest in World music
even led him to briefly study
Indian rhythms with a tabla
teacher from the Ali Akbar
College of Music. He also
went to Rio de Janeiro in
numerous occasions with his
Brazilian wife Paola to study
Brazilian rhythms and play
music with some of the top
players in Brazil. In 2003
John recorded, mixed,
mastered and arranged the
music for a documentary film
about the traditional folk
music of the Northwestern
Indian region of Kutchh,
titled
Rhythm
of the
Rann.
In
college, he studied Jazz
Arranging and Improv with Don
Schamber at Monterey
Peninsula College and Ray
Brown at Cabrillo College. He
studied classical composition
with Dr. Edwin LaBounty at
Western Washington
University, where he went on
to earn a B.M. in Music
Composition. He composed many
works for small ensembles,
string quartets and full
orchestras. He wrote
extensive works for modern
dance, and multimedia
concerts. Also, while there,
he extensively studied
electronic music and Audio
Engineering, which later led
him to teach MIDI and Digital
Audio classes at the
University of Sound Arts in
Hollywood and to do
consulting for major studios
including Lorimar
Pictures.
In
the early '90s he purchased a
beautiful 160 acres in the
Sierra Foothills where he and
his partner Paola created an
intentional community
called
Three
Springs,
focused on sustainable
living. They also created a
non-profit community center,
in the nearby small town,
called
The North
Fork
Studio,
with a mission to bring
cultural and educational
opportunities to the local
community.
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