I was born in East Los Angeles, California in 1976 and began playing the guitar at the late age (especially for flamenco) of 22. By the year 2000, I had seen and heard great flamenco guitarists, but only on video and cd. I had already studied with several very good, L.A.-based teachers, each with different, sometimes contradictory approaches to flamenco. A bit confused by these differences and contradictions, I was longing for a new, more definite direction.

Then in late 2000 I attended a live concert, which featured Canito, a monster guitarrista from Barcelona. Something about that concert and talking with Canito afterwards made me realize I needed to get myself to Spain pronto to answer the questions now burning in my heart, like how can I learn to play like the great ones? how can I accelerate the process? what is flamenco? So, in 2001 I went to Spain and stayed with my friend Canito, who would guide me to my mentor and wise man, "El Viejin."

El Viejin is a member of a large and musically very important gitano family (Jimenez) in Madrid, patriarch of the Cano Roto school of flamenco guitar , and an internationally celebrated flamenco guitarist, accompanist, and composer/arranger. I have always felt especially blessed to study and live amongst him and his family, and since 2001 consider the family of El Viejin my family away from home.

Thanks to El Viejin and the Jimenez family, I learned that flamenco is not just about a particular or special guitar technique, though it includes that. It is not just about long, difficult stretches of solitary hours with the guitar you are in love with, though it includes that, too. A good measure of talent is also helpful, of course, but still not enough. You have to get to know something about the people of flamenco, because flamenco is the way of life and the spirit of the gitanos of Spain.

In the Cano Roto barrio of Madrid, amongst Viejin and his most amazing family, I encountered that life and that spirit, and I will never be the same. This experience set me firmly on the path to becoming the flamenco guitarist God intended me to be. It continues for me today, and deepens in me an appreciation of the life and culture of the gitanos. Without this, all the technique, talent, and hard work in the world would have left me a cold guitarist for flamenco. So for me, in a very important way, flamenco is a gift I received through Viejin, and that gift is what I most endeavor to pass on, as best I can, in my teaching and performance.