I’m a Guitar player. I started in 1969 when I finally got the guitar I had wanted since seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Meanwhile I had gone through tap dancing, Piano, Clarinet and Bassoon lessons which, at the time weren’t what I was interested in. I played in garage bands through high school in Evanston Il. I also played in the E.T.H.S Jazz band my senior year. In the summer of 1975 I was sent off to Coe College in Cedar Rapids Iowa where I played in the Jazz Band the first year and in Collage (show choir) the second year. Like many youthful bums, I was more interested in playing guitar and girls than I was in studying. It was during this time that I started my main vocation of playing in dive bars, I still consider myself a “Bar Guitarist.” So, after two years I went back to Evanston. I pursued assorted things, more school, Guitar building, and teaching. I have been very lucky to have studied with some wonderful and inspiring pickers, I have taken seminars or lessons with Ken Bloom, David Bloom, Howard Roberts, Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Lenny Breau, Ron Eschete, Ted Greene, Joe Diorio, Jethro Burns, Guy Van Duser, and John Stowell. I also spent some time taking Sitar lessons with Som Mujumdar. I have played in many styles which has been both good and bad. Good because it’s fun to try on different hats and bad because I never really got down to one style. In 1987 we moved to California and I started to concentrate on Jazz. I played with a fusion band called Io and some assorted Blues bands. Then, around 1994, my hearing having faded a bit, I started having bad headaches after I would play a gig and had to give up loud music. I started a band called The Penguin Jazz Quartet to play quiet Jazz. The PJQ disbanded in 1999 and I formed a Brazilian band called Nossa Bossa. I also played in an Organ Trio with Bill Walker and Keith Wald. In 2008 I moved back to Cedar Rapids and shortly after started playing duets with Bassist Rich Wagor.

Rich Wagor – Bass

Richard Wagor, is a double bassist and recently has relocated to Cedar Rapids after having worked as a freelance bassist in the Memphis metropolitan area.  He has studied bass at the University of Iowa , holds a Masters of Music from Manhattan School of Music, and most recently studied with Robert Kassinger at DePaul University in Chicago .  Richard is the current interim principal bass in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and has served as interim principal bass in the Dubuque Symphony and interim assistant-principal bass of the Memphis Symphony.  Additionally, he has been a section member of the Memphis Symphony, principal bass in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony, and assistant principal bass in the Dubuque Symphony.  Mr. Wagor has also performed with the Arkansas Symphony, Austin Symphony, Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, Cedar Rapids Symphony, Clinton Symphony, Delta Symphony, Illinois Symphony, Kankakee Symphony, Kenosha Symphony, Illinois Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, and Wartburg symphony as well as the Manhattan Virtuosi, the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, and the Yale Repertory Theater.  Richard has held teaching positions at UNI, Cornell College , and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and maintains a studio in Cedar Rapids .  His chamber music credits include participation in and establishment of the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival with performances at the Hot Springs Music Festival and personal performances with the Memphis Chamber Music Society. Richard’s other musical endeavors have led him to play upright and electric bass with  Now!s, Organ Thief, The John Lake Band, Stephanie Wright, Jobu Babin, Leni Stern, and soprano Callen Esperian.  Currently Richard is working with jazz guitarist Pat Smith in the Cedar Rapids area.