Accompanying Opera Delaware company artist Emily Margevich, on January 25, 2025 

 I've suffered from a bit of an (artistic) identity crisis for some time. Years, if not decades, actually. It started out as feeling the need to adjust, or clarify how I describe myself. It eventually grew into a need to clarify how I define myself, to myself. Or to put another way, how I self identify. 

Late in his career, pianist Dave McKenna declared himself "more of a song player than a jazz player". When I heard him say this, while watching an interview on You Tube a few years ago, I realized that I was already in that same place/space, and that he had gifted me with appropriate words to describe it. It helped me to better understand, and to embrace where my deepest musical connections lie, and my deepest contributions are made. 

Over the years, I have often said that if I could only do one thing as a pianist, it would be to accompany. And although I didn't really understand it so much at the time, this was my heart speaking. My mind wasn't considering it as so much of a declaration than as an observation. I had always seen my primary artistic identity as a whimsical and free wheeling (quote machine) pianist, often solo, and rooted in the classic jazz traditions. So (with some qualification), I was a jazz pianist. Of course. What else could I call myself? Oh wait now, a song player? Yes, a song player. Or a jazz pianist with an unshakable connection to a bygone era where jazz was about connecting with the song? Okay then, a song player. 

The last 15 years or so have given me many opportunities to connect with musicians (primarily vocalists), with the shared purpose of delivering and servicing the songs. And this is the lane in which I am best equipped to travel, ultimately. So yes, if only one thing, then an accompanist. This is what I am best equipped to do, temperamentally and technically. But not the only thing I will do. The bottom line here is that whatever the configuration or circumstance, my artistic self identity has moved away from jazz and toward connection, and presence. Still perhaps hard to describe, but clear to me, which is the most important piece.