(1972) Playing my neighbor's acoustic guitar in West Hempstead, LI. My first two guitars were solid body electrics and I would not come to own an acoustic until sometime in the '80's.

(1973) My first guitar: a 60's vintage Harmony electric solid-body with one pickup. This was given to me by my older brother Frank, who was in a high school rock 'n roll band called The Direct Insults.

(1975) 8th grade talent show: I performed "Organ Grinders Swing" by Jimmie Smith. I'm holding a Gibson ES-330 on loan from my brother -in-law.

(1977) My first official jazz gig playing my first official jazz guitar: a used Guild archtop which I purchased in September 1977 from a shop on 48th street in Manhattan.

(1978) Playing an Epiphone Triumph Regent. This was a big guitar with a big sound. It was originally an acoustic archtop that was retro-fitted with a pickup. It was built in the days when guitar players played in big bands and had to acoustically project a sound; as amplification was still in it's infancy.

(1979) I was involved in music and fine arts simultaneously, although music eventually became more dominant. This shot was taken by my art teacher Bruce Degen (who later went on to do the animation for The Magic School Bus) at Beach Channel high school in Rockaway beach. Behind me is a painting of Jamaica bay with the island of Manhattan in the background. If you look closely you can see the twin towers.

(1980) Gig in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. By this time I stopped playing "jazz boxes" and started playing solid-bodies again (and have been ever since). I'm playing a Les Paul custom, which I eventually sold to John Melendez. Back in those days he was known as "stuttering John."

(1983) Playing a gig in Sheepshead Bay with what would probably be described today as a "smooth jazz" group. Back then we used names like r&b, funk and soul.

(1986) I'm showing off a beautiful Abe Rivera guitar. Abe and I were both from LI. Guitarist Tim Siciliano turned me on to his guitars and in turn both Tim and I introduced Pat Martino to Abe's guitars; not the other way around as is popularly believed.

(7/21/89) At Seltzer Sound studios in Manhattan. This was my first "official" recording session with a quartet featuring Peter Zak, Frank Wagner and Drori Monlak. We recorded 4 songs that day: Freight Trane, Inner Space, The Way You Look Tonight and Dolphin Dance.

This shot (taken on a cold March day in 1992) was used for the cover of Water Street Revival. Water Street is a cobblestone-laden block with mid-19th century warehouses at the far end of downtown Brooklyn (check out the Brooklyn Bridge in the background). Yep, that's a twelve-string acoustic.

I played Birdland in the fall of 1993 with a really good group featuring Don Friedman on piano, Marcus McLaurine on bass and Cecil Brooks III on Drums. We played a mix of standards and originals and I was playing a solid-body nylon string electric. Marcus McLaurine and I go back aways as he was one of the first musicians that I met when I moved to Brooklyn in 1980. I had first met Don Friedman when I was 16 at a club on the upper east side. He was playing a duo gig with the late Attila Zoller. Who knew I would someday play guitar on the record he would dedicate to Attila (Attila's Dreams).

(1992) Gig in at the New Music Cafe in NYC. This group (Sylvia Cuenca on drums, Belden Bullock on bass, Bryan Carrott on vibes and James Weidman on piano) was identical in instrumentation to the group I recorded with in 1991 for the record "Water Street Revival".

(1993) Advertisement for a performance by the Andrew Cheshire Quintet at Sullivan County Community College.

(9/11/93) Concert in upstate New York featuring Chip Burris on tenor, David Berkman on piano, Marcus McLaurine on bass, and Tony Reedus on drums. The group performed songs I had recently wrote: two of which found their way onto the record "This Is Me."

(9/11/93) Playing a "scroll" guitar made by Abe Rivera, which was put to good use for a few years. I wish I could say the same for the amp (at right) which went up in flames soon after this performance. After that incident I began learning how to build my own amps.

(8/25/94) Gig with saxophonist Sam Morrison (foreground). I played with Sam from 1993 to 1998. Sam was a prodigy. Discovered by Miles Davis in 1975, he played in Miles' band (replacing Sonny Fortune) until Miles' unexpected retirement in 1976. Of Sam, Miles said: "I ain't heard so much fire on the saxophone since Trane was in my band."

Advertisement for a local trio gig I was doing back in the early '90's in Callicoon, NY.

(1996) This was a press shot for a write-up a local paper did concerning the release of my debut record "This Is Me". I had just recently acquired the guitar you see here (an Ibanez acoustic-electric). At the time I was really getting into the piezo pickup sound and I liked the fact that I could change up between steel and nylon strings. I would later use this guitar for the record "Guitar Noir."

(5/6/97) On the set of "Another View." I was originally intending to use the acoustic-electric on this date, but at the last minute I got spooked and impulsively went out and rented a Parker solid-body equipped with (of all things)a whammy bar. I actually used the whammy for subtle effect with pretty good results. It was a first for me- but hopefully not a last. (Photo: Ron Mcclure).

The "Another View" group: (from left to right) Kurt Weiss, Ron McClure, AC, Rich Perry, and Jeff Hirshfield. I actually did a PBS special that aired in September of the same year featuring most of the original group from the original recording session.

Video-capture from a live PBS television broadcast that aired out of New York on September 26th 1997. This hour-long special featured most of the music from my record Another View.

...I had 3/5's of the original personnel from the record Another View present for this TV special. Both Kurt Weiss and Rich Perry (pictured) reprised their roles on trumpet and tenor respectively. Bassist Ron McClure was replaced by Steve Laspina, and drummer Jeff Hirshfield was replaced by T. Xiques.

...Yet another video-capture from the PBS special "Sessions" originally televised on September 26th, 1997. Pictured are Rich Perry (right), Steve Laspina (center) and Kurt Weiss (left) performing the song Eva.

(9/18/99) Recording session with Billy Hart and Ron McClure for one half of the record Magic. The other half was from another trio session earlier in the year featuring advant-garde musicians Dominic Duval and Jay Rosen. I'm playing a Telecaster, possibly the greatest electric guitar ever built.

Clowning around with Billy Hart on the set of Magic. Billy needs no introduction to jazz fans. In addition to being on a thousand records, He played in separate groups led by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the early seventies.

Ron McClure: bass player, piano player, jazz legend, rock legend, fusion co-founder, educator, philosopher, author, photographer, Grammy-nominated composer of beautiful melodies and harmonies. Sometimes I think he might even be Santa.

(1/20/99) Photo Montage from Don Friedman's record Attila's Dreams,a quartet date featuring myself, Ron McClure and Joey Baron, and dedicated to the late Attila Zoller. Attila was a Hungarian jazz guitarist who was perhaps more harmonically advanced than any other guitar player of his time. He was good friends with Don Friedman and I actually had the opportunity to play with him once back in the late 70's. My song "Attila" is dedicated to him.

(2/8/01) Recording the music for the record "Guitar Noir," the first of two solo guitar records I've made.

On the set of "Morning Song;" an organ trio record I did in 2003 with Dan Kostelnik on Hammond B-3 and Jay Rosen on drums. When I lived in Brooklyn, I used to play with a really good organist by the name of Ernie Jones. I have always loved the organ-guitar sound, and I'm glad I had the oppurtunity to do this date.

(summer 2003) Callicoon NY gig with tenor saxophonist Rich Perry. Rich has been a member of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis orchestra for many years and is a Steeplechase recording artist. He is a unique improviser with a sound that's reminiscent of Joe Henderson with some Stan Getz thrown in for good measure. That's a young Joe Michaels on bass standing center.

(2003) Gig at Rochester Institute of Technology with bassist Teddy Oberman and drummer Jay Rosen. I've known Jay since I was fourteen. He is a multi-faceted percussionist and is all but ubiquitous on the CIMP record label, which spotlights the talents of many cutting-edge jazz musicians.

2003 was a good year for me. I had the chance to do quite a bit of recording and had a handful of nice gigs. Behind the scenes I finally began working in earnest on building my own guitar amplifiers.

(2004) The "old man" (center) with two talented young turks of jazz: (left) Adam Stranburg and (right) Lance Koonah hanging out after rehearsal for "The Four Ages of Bob."

(6/19/04) Pianist Jesse Green during recording session for "The Four Ages of Bob." Jesse is a wonderful piano player that always knows what to play and when to play it. It's almost as if he was listening to jazz when he was in his diapers. (Yep, you guessed it- his father is jazz legend Urbie Green).

I hearby lay claim to the discovery of Joe Michaels. He was only 19 or 20 when I first heard him and I've watched him grow over the years. He's got just about everthing you would ever want in a bass player: good tone, good time, he swings way hard and is always supportive. Most of all, he's absolutely fearless. He'll devour anthing you put in front of him.

(2005) Shot used for the record "Man is an Island" taken at Cape Cod Massachussettes. I've been visiting the cape on and off for almost forty years. There is something about the ocean that has a calming effect you can't get from any elixir or intoxicant. It's pure and natural and it's the truth. If I have my way, I'll die there.

(2006) Playing outside with Joe Michaels on bass and Adam Stranburg on drums at the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, DE. Notice I'm playing an electric sitar. I really had so much fun fun playing this instrument, although I do realize that most people have a difficult time warming up to it's "buzzy" sound.

(4/22/10) Session for the record "Ballads." I'm the luckiest guy in the world in that I'm still able to do what I love to do after all these years. I think I've developed the right perspective: creation is a life-long process and you're only just beginning to scratch the surface of whatever you're working on at any particular moment. I don't compete, I dont ask, and I don't expect. I just give it all I got everyday of my life and leave the rest up to God.