Music is my all-consuming passion! My current projects — besides marketing myself as a solo singer-songwriter — involve playing piano for the West Seattle Big Band, and web-designing, playing piano, and singing for Cascadia Jazz. I also sub on piano or alto/tenor sax occasionally with a few area bands.

I never thought I'd write music. The muse struck a few years ago: I put together a few songs, and the ball just kept on rolling from there. Inspiration comes from any and everything — I listen to just about every style of music there is (but I'll admit to being a big prog rock fan...) — I'd call myself melodic piano singer-songwriter blended with technically cool jazz chords as I see fit. I'm very technical about my music, but first and foremost comes overall sound, big picture -- I never sacrifice the overall "wow" for minutiae.

Other than my own writings, I've played big band jazz piano for over five (?? lost track...) years. Prior to that, I was involved in a sax quartet (alto/tenor/bari) and lots of a cappella work — I did the majority of the arranging for my 6-person group, Smorgaschord. Now, I set my arranging sights higher, attempting 18 piece big band arrangements of standards that are different enough to keep us interested as musicians, but standard enough to keep the audience coming back.

Overall, I'd say I do pretty well for someone with no formal music education, other than a tiny bit of voice coaching. (My graduate degree is in pharmaceutical chemistry, and I use it to teach at community college.) I would never do it without the help of my husband Bruce — my technical assistant, my roadie, my alter ego, and the love of my life.