About Bruce

This website is “home” for my songs. I like that description because songs live and breath, so what makes more sense than to put a roof over their heads. So come on in and grab a listen.

As a small child, the first song or songs you paid attention to were just songs. You didn’t say “cool melody, man” or “hey, what a great bunch of rhymes” or, “dude… what a groovy B flat chord.” You just listened and a new world of sound and art opened up for you. If you take the time to listen to some of my songs, please do your best to listen as though you were a child. Don’t analyze or judge them. Try to let them wash over you and hopefully find their way into your heart.

With much love, I thank you for visiting and for listening.

BIO

The musicians and music I have loved starting from early childhood:

AS A PRE-TEEN:

Folk: The Weavers, Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Odetta and Leadbelly.

Classical: Bach and Mozart

Stage Productions: The Music Man, Finnian’s Rainbow, My Fair Lady

Pop and Rock: The Impressions (Curtis Mayfield), Buddy Holly, James Brown, etc…

AS A TEEN:

The Beatles, Aretha, The Rolling Stones, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke, The Temptations, Paul Butterfield, Mary Wells, Van Morrison, Cream, Ray Charles, etc…

AS AN ADULT:

Clifford Brown, Fagen and Becker, Frank Zappa, The Beatles, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat, Lowell George, Bobby McFerrin, Vladimir Horowitz, etc…

Bands I have played in and the people who (at one time or another) played in those bands….

The 3 G Notes (1958-59): Ric Gilbert and Ralph Gilbert

The Crusaders (1963 approx.): Sidney Carter, Phillip Diamond, Howard “Scooter” Levinson

The Aldermen (1965-67): Jess Acuna (Hiroshima alum) , Tad Shaw, Greg Kricheff, Russ, Larry and the boys

Duck Butter (1966-67): Paul Barrere (current member of Little Feat), Mitch Brisker, Mark Vinegar (Son of legendary jazz Bassist Leroy Vinegar)

Skin (1967-68): Jon Wildes, Michael Barrere, Fred Schwab, various forgotten others…

The Sounds of Synanon (1967-89): Frank Rehak (alum of Miles Davis, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie and many other famous ensembles), Doug Robinson, David Scott, Wendell Stamps, Gil Anda, Eric Melander, Frank LaMarca, Leon Levy and Buzz Feiten (alum of Paul Butterfield band…performed with Chick Corea, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder, Olivia Newton-John, etc…)

other members of the Sounds of Synanon whom I did not play with included: Joe Pass (jazz guitar genius), Greg Dykes, Art Pepper (a jazz giant on alto sax), Charlie Haden, Woody Tavis, Arnold Ross, Ron Clark, Ann Lombardo, Bill Crawford and many more.

The Ottos (1985-89): Little Glenda, Leon Levy, Doug Robinson, Jerome Davidson, Mark Gold, Aimoku McClellan and Julian Kaiser

Gilbert and Robinson (1990-95): Doug Robinson, Byron Hori, Don Boomer (played with The Seeds) and Fritz “the cat” Carney (had a stint with Elvis Presley)

The College of Sequoias Thursday Night Big Band (1991-98 approx): Bill Butts, Lisa Butts, Doug Hunt, Becky Hunt, Don Boomer, Kirk Clague, Kent Hillman, Fritz Carney, Ed Scott, Norma the nice alto sax lady, Marnie Katz, Matt Mangano, Adon Infante, David Stephens, Jeff Bilden etc….

Performing guest artists with this band included: Louie Bellson, Steve Allen, Bob Dorough, Bobby Shew, Pete Christlieb, Matt Catingub and many others…

The Buddy Blue Band (2001-04)…named Blues Band of the year in San Diego 2001: Buddy Blue, Jerry Rig, Pete Bogle, Tom Bishop, Joe Dyke, Sven-Eric Seaholm

The Sunday Night Songwriter Circle/Atlanta Georgia 2007-present: Cyndi Craven, Allison Adams, Tommy Wolf, Steve Cullen, Billy Gewin, Rick Diamond, Ashley Filip, Louis Robinson, Tony Bolin, Pat Walsh, Jeff Silver, Heidi Pollyea, Paul Pendery, Suzy Schultz, Carol Statella….