Buddy Thomas

My father, musician, industrial line mechanic and trouble shooter; taught me that in learning and doing things, nothing is impossible.

Glenn Thomas

Precocious and prodigious, my brother and most tenacious friend, my first student who became my teacher also.

Marshall Taylor

The quintessential performer, with exhaustive knowledge and musicianship.

Roland Hanna

I was Roland's private student in NYC from 1968 until 1971 or '72 while finishing my masters degree in composition from Long Island University.

Will Parsons

Percussionist and Musical Inventor, an American heartland pioneer.

Pat Martino

As close as family and more than the world’s greatest jazz guitarist, a profound musical thinker and composer.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

A major historical force in European music, I was among several fortunate American students whose friendship he enjoyed in the mid sixties.

Bill Evans

I based my own style on the geometry of his deeply poetic music.

Miles Davis

Whose music and methods completely redirected my life.

Ludmila Ulehla

Composition teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, they represent the best of the original ideals of “The Music Conservatory”.

Nicolas Flagello

Composition teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, they represent the best of the original ideals of “The Music Conservatory”.

Vittorio Giannini

Composition teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, they represent the best of the original ideals of “The Music Conservatory”.

Raoul Pleskow

Hidden treasure… ”Mozart” to Wolpe’s Beethoven.

John Cage

Once a year, endless cups of Chinese tea and long talks from 1965 until his death in 1992.

Michael Steinberg

Creating a taste for Mahler and introducing us in 1959 to the music of Elliot Carter, Milton Babbit, and other forbidden fruits.

Igor Stravinsky

Inventing and inhabiting his own special world with it’s own peculiar dazzling gravity and light.

Jon English

Composer, trombonist, bassist, and lifelong best friend.

Stefan Wolpe

A “Beethoven” for the 20th Century, living in America.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Haunting beauty made in secret places.

Herbie Hancock

Unofficially my greatest Jazz Professor; He is The Boss.

Sal Martirano

The generous, gentle, wildman of American music.

Dennis Sandole

Thanks to Pat Martino's recommendation, Dennis' teaching brought conflict-resolution to my Jazz /Classical quandry.

Ron Dewar

Anyone lucky enough to have heard him play or, better yet, to have played with him, knows that words are hopelessly inadequate to describe his musical gifts