"I began to listen to jazz at age 15, in the fifties, introduced to the sounds by my Uncle Charlie Mastropaolo, an accomplished drummer. As I grew older I found the sounds of jazz were not only joyful but had a healing effect. In the late sixties I had a gig as a disc jockey on KBCA-FM in Los Angeles, an all-night jazz station. I programmed my own shows and did interviews with the greats of jazz. At the beginning of my photographic career I was fortunate to photograph the up and coming jazz musicians, as well as those established icons of the jazz world like Dizzy, Duke, and Miles. I find jazz and photography are both powerful and visceral forces in furthering unity and understanding."