personal

Although currently based in Honolulu, Ethan is from the opposite end of the USA. He's a Northeast native from a small town in Maine called Bridgton, population ~5K and far from any sort of thriving music scene. As the son of a piano teacher and a piano tuner, it's no surprise that Ethan began his music education early and developed a deep love for piano. His parents surrounded Ethan and his sister with music all the time, from family sing-alongs, to putting him in summer band camp, and encouraging him to join the jazz band in middle school. Throughout his childhood, there was always music playing at home from his parents' tapes, records, and CDs: everything from classical music, to jazz, hip-hop, and movie soundtracks. 

Music is the one constant in Ethan's life, and it was a major part of his upbringing from the time he could talk. It was a sacred and paramount part of his family life. He learned a lot about music from his parents, but the most valuable lesson he took away was the idea that you can do what you love for a living. 

Ethan prides himself on being a keyboard nerd, messing around with synthesizers and Ableton Live day and night. He spends most of his time preparing for upcoming gigs, constantly having to learn and discover new music, charting and transcribing songs, or working on his sight-reading. Ethan's one wish is that more people put a higher value on live music and understand that live music is special, essential, and has its own intrinsic value as an art form. He believes that just as being open to different kinds of people enriches your life, so too does being open to different kinds of music.

professional

Ethan developed his technique further at Ithaca College in upstate New York, where he majored in Television-Radio Communications with a focus on Audio Production. After jamming with his friends one day in a college band called Kabu (Ethan played drums), he snuck into a music school practice room to meddle with a grand piano. As luck would have it, Steve Brown the head of Jazz Studies heard him play, and took Ethan under his wing. Though he was a guitar player, Steve Brown helped Ethan understand jazz technique conceptually and took his piano mastery to the next level.

Having Italian roots, Ethan studied in Italy his junior year of college to learn the language. Once again by chance, he was immersed into the jazz scene when the head of the exchange program connected Ethan to Lorenzo Definiti, an Italian jazz piano all-star who agreed to teach him. Through Lorenzo, Ethan's time abroad led to an internship at Scuola Civica di Jazz di Milano where he learned how to record music and attend free shows, fostering a deeper appreciation for music.

To continue his pursuit of becoming an audio engineer, Ethan next studied for a semester in Los Angeles to learn how to record and mix albums. The experience led him to realize he wanted to play and produce his own music. After receiving a positive response the first time he played on a public piano during a Hawaii visit, he decided to pursue music professionally...and the rest is sort of history.