Artists who inspired me when I was growing up
Discover who gave Tony the passion and motivation to become an artist and a professional musician himself
I grew up in England, and my first passion was Michael Jackson and Prince. I was all about Michael anything, Michael Jackson, anything Prince. I would get jobs washing cars around the neighborhood to just go buy whatever Michael Jackson cassette and CD or whatever form I could get it. I just bought everything, I could get my hands on. So I was really passionate about music.
And as I grew up, I got more into electronica music, drum and bass. So I had a pair of turntables, and I would mix and create music really, throughout my childhood. Never dabbled with guitar, but never really too much. So my influences were Michael Jackson and electronic drum and bass. Then all of a sudden, I was at Berkeley, and I was checking out for the first time, John McLaughlin was a big mentor of mine, so I was obviously checking out John McLaughlin.
But he introduced me to Miles Davis, and then that was like kind of a can of worms. So I would always look at the the liner notes and see who was playing, so I found Wayne Shorter. I became in love with his sound and his compositions, Marcus Miller, which then led me to David Sambourne, and then Michael Brecker, and Bob James. I remember the grand piano Canyon Was listening to Yellowjackets. Who else?
Pat Metheny. I was introduced to Pat Metheny. Pat Metheny’s music while I was at Berklee and I’d never heard him before. It was like my third year at Berklee and I’d never heard of Pat Metheny. So as soon as I realized who it was, I had all of his records for many years to catch up with.
So it was like Christmas. I had a pile of Pat Metheny music to dive into for the first time. And learning music at the same time was just so rewarding. It was, so much inspiration. Take Six, the beautiful harmonies that they would write.
Brad Meltau, you know, I was I’m so intrigued by the angles that he takes with his music, and it’s very unexpected. And there’s always very edgy surprises that are surrounded with such beautiful moments. Kurt Rosenwinkel. I’m a huge fan. Of course, my ultimate mentor is, John McLaughlin.
He introduced me to the Shakti music that were the world of India, which I dearly love that music. And the classical world and the Spanish and flamenco with Paco de Lucia and Aldi Miola. So just through him, I kind of really learned a wide landscape of music and then started when I was writing music to kind of infuse some of my earlier influences like the electronica stuff or kind of the melodic nature of, Michael Jackson or Burt Bacharach. I’m a big fan of Burt Bacharach’s melodies and and beautiful harmonies.
