Trumpet

Steve has enjoyed teaching private students since 2003. He has had many students involved in ESYO, Suburban Council, Area All State, and All State. Some students have gone on to major in music on trumpet at Eastman and the Crane School of Music.

Steve has been playing trumpet professionally for over 20 years. He became interested in music listening to his father’s Fats Waller records as a young child. Early in his career he performed with and learned from some of the best musicians in the Albany area including Nick Brignola, Mike Canonico, Rennie Craine, Mike Wicks, George Muscatello, and Brian Patneaude. 


Steve moved to New York in 1999 to pursue a Bachelors Degree from Columbia University. After graduating he worked in the office of Second Floor Music for two years as assistant to world-renowned jazz trumpet player/arranger/producer Don Sickler. This office was on 28th St, formerly Tin Pan Alley. While on staff at Second Floor, he interacted with such legends as Jim Hall, Renee Rosnes, Charli Persip, Ray Bryant, and Rudy Van Gelder, and worked on many SFM publications including "The Thelonious Monk Fake Book", "Sing Jazz!", and Charli Persipi's "How Not To Play Drums." Steve also freelanced around Manhattan, working at such jazz clubs as Kavehaz, Louis, and The Garage, and honed his chops while frequenting many jazz jams around the city including those at Smoke, The Lenox Lounge, Smalls, and Cleopatra's Needle. Steve has been hired to perform with: Curtis Fuller, Fathead Newman, Claudio Roditi, Brent Fisher, Vince Dimartino, Ray Vega, Allen Ferber, Lee Konitz, John Fedchock, Rufus Reid, Frank Stallone, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Kristin Chenoweth, Johnny Mathis, and Frankie Valli.