More About Me!

I was adopted and raised in Ephraim Utah. My parents had me start taking piano lessons when I was 6, and I started playing the clarinet in 6th grade. At my middle school we weren't allowed to switch to saxophone until our 7th grade year, but I thought I was too cool for that rule, so I switched halfway through 6th grade. I asked my mom to get me a tenor saxophone since it seemed like the cooler sax to play, and she assured me that I would get to play my uncle's old sax. The day came where I'd get to play a saxophone for the first time, and my mom handed me the case to a sax that seemed too small to be a tenor. I hoped that it was just a small case and that a tenor was waiting inside for me, but to my disappointment, there was an old beater alto in the case (Conn Shooting Star). Nevertheless, it was still a saxophone and I stuck with it until I bought a Cannonball Alto (Alcazar) in 8th grade with the money I saved up from delivering newspapers. 

In high school I was recruited to play in the pit orchestra for the school play, and I started experimenting with the other woodwind instruments. I quickly picked up bass clarinet and flute, and was able to play both of them in other groups and ensembles. I even had the opportunity to play Bass Clarinet for Honor Orchestra at Weber State. Throughout my time in high school, I participated in Band, Jazz band, percussion, and show choir. I also had the chance to play in the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra. My school selected me to be the Sterling Scholar of Music for my senior year, and I quickly learned that I was very far from the top. I then took a 2 year break to serve a mission for my church in Patagonia.

After my mission I came back to Utah and studied at the Snow College Horne School of Music and got my Bachelors of Music with an emphasis in Commercial Music. I first was studying to be an educator, but after taking a few classes I decided that I wanted to avoid that route and go into Saxophone Performance and Music Technology. I studied classical saxophone with Timothy Kidder and Jazz with Chase Baird. I was lead alto in the Big Band and wind ensemble. While taking lessons with Chase, I was reminded why I wanted to play Tenor in the first place and I switched from Alto to Tenor my Senior year at Snow. I sat in the Solo Tenor chair for my last year, and we were able to attend the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, where we took 1st place in the Big Band and Combo divisions.  

I've been able to be a part of a couple bands, as well as start my own. I played in a Prog. Rock band called Royal, and an Alternative group called Sentimentalism. In 2022 I started my own band, The Sanpete Jazz Messengers, and we play a mixture of Jazz, classic rock, and country music. 

My future plans are to develop more as a Saxophonist and as a Sound Engineer by moving to Los Angeles in the near future to work more in the film industry. I currently work at ABC4 News in Salt Lake City as an Audio Operator. I've also done sound editing and design for several short films and film festivals. 

I would like to thank my lovely wife, Emily Thomas, for being a big part of this journey. We met in our Jazz Combo our first year at Snow, and later got married. She's been extremely supportive of my dream, and I'm so grateful for what she does for me. She's an extremely talented Jazz Pianist and has helped me many times with gigs and homework. While in college, we played at a little restaurant in Manti called "Grandma Berta's" every Friday night. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to play together and just have some fun. We didn't usually have much of a crowd, but there were times where the few people there would get up and dance to the ballads we would play.