http://www.myspace.com/balmoral

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3

I’ve been studying music for more than twenty years. I have played piano since I was eight, vibraphone since thirteen, and I started collecting records when I was fifteen.

I grew up in Milwaukee, where I met a lot of my early influences, and played in several bands (doing everything from Fishbone and Meters covers, to Tom Waits-inspired originals!). I studied jazz at Rosevelt Middle School and West Division High. There, I had the great fortune of meeting and playing with many of my heroes, including Barry Harris, Yusef Lateef, Jack DeJohnette, Eddie Palmieri, Josh Redman, T.S. Monk, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Carter, and many more. A huge influence on my musical taste was the large library of records and videos that one of my teachers lent out freely (on the low, he also let me borrow the school’s music equipment over the summers).

In 1996, I moved to Minneapolis. Within a year, I met up with Aaron Money (a fellow Milwaukeen) and co-founded the city’s first underground hip hop radio show, The Beatbox. Through The Beatbox, I met and formed friendships with many performers, including the Rhymesayers crew, Del tha Funky Homosapien, All Natural, the Living Legends, Aceyalone, and most significantly, Brother Ali.

Ali and I began performing together in 2000.