Music is known as being the “universal language”. It’s allowed me to connect with people all across the world from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. But to me, the definition proves to be deeper than that. Music serves as a means of healing and togetherness. Frequencies and wavelengths of sound convert to energy. That energy is then transferred to extract feelings and emotional responses from the conscious and subconscious. Have you ever heard a piece of music and you instantly relate that to a direct life experience? Me too. That’s why, ultimately, music is what feelings sound like.

The most powerful tool one can have is the ability to create. When I compose a song, I allow the world to be my muse. I gather inspiration from everything around me. When it gets tough to put things into words, music allows me to go to a place of vulnerability and organically express the deepest depths of my emotional and spiritual state.

Alchemy in its original form was a medieval forerunner of chemistry, used as a method to transmute base metals into gold. Similarly, music transmutes emotion into melodies. A masterpiece is the end goal! I mean think about it. When you are sad, you listen to the blues. When you are excited and energetic, you can turn to to pop or rock! When you want to mellow out your day, you can play jazz or R&B. And when you want to seek inspiration, Christian music or gospel is the way to go. Each genre of music, in conjunction with minor or major chord structures,  coupled with tempo and frequency allows the listener to FEEL that which they seek. That’s the connection between the artist and audience. It’s a magnanimous responsibility that the creator of music holds. It’s why I do my best as an artist not just to create, but to put my best effort forward into producing excellence.

Miles Davis once said, “It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change.” Music is a change agent for change. My debut album, Evolve, spoke to this principle. I saw a transformation from when I first picked up the saxophone almost 20 years ago, to the man you see before you today. Music gave me a way to talk about love, struggle, loss, freedom and finally the ability to overcome any obstacle that’s set before me! When people finished listening to the album, so many told me they felt empowered and uplifted by simply hearing the emotion behind each song which lead to them wanting to take on the unbelievably and beautiful task to be their own alchemist.

I live by a motto: touching lives one note at a time. I’m so grateful for the gift that I have through music and look forward to sharing it with as many people as possible while I can on this Earth. You might forget names or even faces. But you’ll never forget who someone or something made you FEEL. That’s what we have to remember to treat people with love, compassion and respect. My music will always include those same ideals.