Chris wandered into Grossmans Tavern one Saturday afternoon to hear The Happy Pals Traditional New Orleans jazz band which has been playing there since the 70’s and was ecstatic to learn that people still play ‘pre bebop’ styles of jazz. After a trip to New Orleans Chris took a big move and bought an old plywood Kay bass and strung it up with gut strings and began learning how to play in the early style of the double bass. Chris is now one of few bassists in the world that uses (arguably defunct) techniques like slapping, bowing and projecting a big acoustic volume, using simple ideas and playing with the ‘old’ time feels, a departure from modern walking bass style like you’d hear from the likes of Ray Brown and more like what you’d hear from Pops Foster. He can be heard with many early jazz, swing, gypsy jazz, rag time and of course New Orleans Jazz and RnB groups around Toronto.

One night Chris wandered into the Silver Dollar on the last night of the legendary weekly bluegrass residency "High Lonesome Wednesday" which ran for 20 years, and featured some of Canada's top roots musicians. He recognized all the same things that he loved about learning jazz in that there was a shared language, improvisation, very impressive musicianship, group interaction, and most excitingly a whole history and repertoire that he knew nothing about. After listening to many records, learning the 5 string banjo in Scruggs style and spending countless hours at jams and shows, Chris can often be heard on bass or banjo playing with some of Toronto’s finest bluegrass and old time musicians.

One of Chris’s earliest musical experiences was playing classic rock with his friends in high school. The Zeppelin, tunes are of course deeply influenced by blues musicians such as Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, as well their progenitors like W.C. Handy or Robert Johnson. The blues influence is the common thread in all the music mentioned above. Of course Chris has ended up backing some great blues artists, and while teaching has learned how to do many styles of blues and finger style rag guitar.

Chris has always had a profound interest in the learning process and believes that the best part of playing music is sharing it with others. For this reason, he knew from the start that teaching would be an essential part of his career. Chris currently teaches private lessons in various styles on guitar, electric bass, acoustic bass, music theory, and both idiomatic and non-idiomatic improvisation.

His teaching approach is straightforward and student focused. He focuses on learning to listen to music actively and intelligently, emphasizing the need for patience and realistic goals. His aiming to help students gain music literacy and proficiency step by step. He currently teaches in Toronto at his studio in Parkdale and online.