Photo courtesy of Nicolas Hen
Pete started playing guitar soon after his 12th birthday. He learned songs off of tape recordings and CDs and took the occasional private lesson, but after his first summer at the National Guitar Workshop in his hometown, New Milford, Connecticut, he was hooked for life. The inspiration that was sparked in his early years later brought him to the Berklee College of Muisic, where he studied with David Fiuczynski, Jon Damien and David Tronzo and earned a BA in Contemporary Writing and Production.
After developing his skills and knowledge at Berklee, Pete moved to New York City to pursue a career as a performing musician. His first pursuits were as a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with independent rock and folk projects, but he soon became entranced with the traditional music scenes in New York, and delved deep into gypsy jazz, traditional American jazz and bluegrass. He has performed with Queen Esther, Elliott Sharp, Jerron Paxton and Sabir Mateen as well as numerous New York City-based jazz ensembles including: The Avalon Jazz Band, Jessy Carolina and The Hot Mess, The Bailsmen, The Hot Club of Bushwick and Sweet Megg and The Wayfarers. Pete continues to play in a wide variety of styles including jazz (traditional and contemporary), bluegrass, folk, country, avant-garde, rock and bossa nova. He is just as capable playing as a solo guitarist as he is in an ensemble setting and has been working increasingly in this style.
In addition to a varied resume of performance experience, Pete maintains a busy schedule as a teacher for the New York City Guitar School and is always accepting private students of all levels for guitar, piano, voice, drums, bass, mandolin, banjo and ukulele.
After developing his skills and knowledge at Berklee, Pete moved to New York City to pursue a career as a performing musician. His first pursuits were as a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with independent rock and folk projects, but he soon became entranced with the traditional music scenes in New York, and delved deep into gypsy jazz, traditional American jazz and bluegrass. He has performed with Queen Esther, Elliott Sharp, Jerron Paxton and Sabir Mateen as well as numerous New York City-based jazz ensembles including: The Avalon Jazz Band, Jessy Carolina and The Hot Mess, The Bailsmen, The Hot Club of Bushwick and Sweet Megg and The Wayfarers. Pete continues to play in a wide variety of styles including jazz (traditional and contemporary), bluegrass, folk, country, avant-garde, rock and bossa nova. He is just as capable playing as a solo guitarist as he is in an ensemble setting and has been working increasingly in this style.
In addition to a varied resume of performance experience, Pete maintains a busy schedule as a teacher for the New York City Guitar School and is always accepting private students of all levels for guitar, piano, voice, drums, bass, mandolin, banjo and ukulele.