Hi all, My name is Stephen and am here to step my playing up to a new level. I’ve played piano since I was 11 years old. I took two years of lessons. The lessons stopped because we moved to a very small town (population 350) and there was no one there that gave piano lessons. I still continued to play by learning songs by ear I liked that were on the radio. The songs became less challenging. I started learning more difficult songs that featured piano, such as what Ray Manzarek (not sure how his last name is spelled) and Billy Joel played. When I started college, I was introduced to jazz. I really began to love it. 70s fusion was all I listened to for a while. Chick Corea and Return to Forever, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc… I also began listening to contemporary jazz such as Brad Mehldau. My playing kind of peaked and now I am wanting to play jazz. So, that’s why I’m here.
