Presently, Neil is living and working in Tokyo, Japan. After leaving New York City in March 1998, he has been performing around Tokyo with pianists: Yuichi Inoue, Makoto Kuriya, Eddie Mendenhall and Jonathan Katz, drummers: Tommy Campbell, Jun Saito, Masahiko Osaka, Jimmy Smith, Nobuyuki Fujii and Forris Fulford, bassists: Mark Tourian, Stan Gilbert, Daiki Yasukagawa, Brent Nussey and Nobuyuki Yano, saxophonists: Ken Ota, Andy Wulf, Bob Zung, Steve Sacks and James Mahone, trombonist Fred Simmons, guitarists: Todd Carver, Aaron Blackman and Miguel Jonsson, and percussionists: Robbie Belgrade and Paulo Vargas.

While living in Tokyo, Neil has recorded albums with saxophonist Takeshi Ito (Double Circle-Kitty Records) and pianist-producer Makoto Kuriya (Antithesis 2-King Records and TV Anthology).

Neil attended West Virginia University and Berklee College of Music from 1977 to 1982. During this time, he studied trumpet with Roger Sherman (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), Greg Hopkins (Berklee) and Wes Hensel (Berklee).

In 1982, Neil was selected by audition to perform with the United States Navy Band, Washington , D.C. (White House support group). During the next 5 years, he performed hundreds of concerts each year with the Navy`s Official Jazz Ensemble, "The Commodores." A big band consisting of former members of the Buddy Rich Orchestra, Stan Kenton Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson Big Band, Duke Ellington Orchestra and Count Basie Orchestra, the "Commodores" performed weekly concerts at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the American History Museum as well as official White House and Pentagon events in Washington. The band also performed at many national and international music events such as the International Jazz Educators Association convention (Los Angeles), Mid-West Band Clinic (Chicago), International Saxophone Symposium and the International Trombone Symposium as well as national tours and dozens of concerts up and down the east coast each year.

As a featured soloist with the "Commodores", Neil performed with Pete Christlieb, Ernie Watts, Eddie Daniels, Duffy Jackson, Butch Miles, Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Chris Vadala, Bob Mintzer and many others. During this time he also free-lanced in the Washington-Baltimore area. Neil played at Blues Alley with the Bill Potts Big Band, the Jazz Battalion Orchestra, performed nightly at the Shoreham Hotel with the Doug Sorensen Orchestra, at the U.S. Naval Academy with the Randy Sabin Orchestra from New York, weekly at Chelsea`s with the house band (10-piece salsa orchestra), the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Warren Covington Orchestra, the Washington Bach Consort, as well as dozens of recording sessions for TV and radio. He also performed at the National Cathedral. Neil played trumpet for a lot of shows including guitarist Gatemouth Brown, Pat Boone, Dianne Carroll, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Vanessa Williams, Ray Charles and others. Neil played weekly at the Georgetown Seafood House with a variety of players including bassist Keter Betts. Keter also joined Neil for some trio sessions in Cumberland, Maryland with pianist Joe Barbato. During this time, he was a frequent performer on the U.S. Navy Band`s Recital Series, performing standard repetoire for trumpet and piano.

While living in D.C., Neil studied trumpet with David Flowers (National SymphonyOrchestra) at Catholic University and with the world famous brass instructor,Carmine Caruso, in New York City. Also, he studied 18th century counterpoint at George Washington University, jazz improvisation with Barry Harris at his New York City Jazz Workshop and ear training and improvisation with pianist Marc Copland (former student of Lennie Tristano). In addition, Neil went to weekly jam sessions at the famous D.C. jazz club, the One Step Down. At the One Step, he jammed with players such as saxophonist Gary Thomas, drummer Winard Harper, bassist Ed Howard, guitarist Paul Bollenback, saxophonist Marty Nau, pianist Peter Adleman,bassist Butch Warren and many others.

During the 90`s, Neil spent several years living in his hometown in West Virginia. During this time, he worked as a consultant and part-time instructor at Davis and Elkins College. Teaching trumpet and running improvisation classes were just a few of his responsibilities at D & E College. As a consultant, Neil created music festivals, produced concerts, scheduled hundreds of daytime school concerts and workshops in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland for elementary, junior high school, high school and university students. He performed at dozens of these events each month.

Neil brought a lot of musical friends to West Virginia to perform for young students. Many of the players included drummer Roger Humphreys, guitarist Jimmy Ponder, drummer Greg Humphreys, pianist Dave Budway, guitarist Marty Ashby, trombonist Jay Ashby, trumpeter Claudio Roditi, drummer Daduka Fonsceca, pianist Bob Thompson, bassist Dwayne Dolphin, vocalist Meredeth Joseph, saxophonist Don Aliquo, guitarist Shawn Purcell, bassist Paul Thompson and so many others.

In 1995, Neil took his trio (Joe Barbato - piano and Dave Pellow - bass) and quartet (included Gene Ludwig -hammond B-3 organ and Rich Norwood - tenor sax) to Switzerland to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In addtion to performing at Montreux, they performed at the Verbier Music Festival and at the Brissago Jazz Festival at Lake Maggio. In December 1995, Neil took his quintet (pianist Joe Barbato, drummer Allison Miller, tenor saxophonist Rich Norwood and bassist Jim McIntyre) to Russia for a 3 week tour. As part of their tour, they performed in St. Petersburg at the famous Jazz Philharmonic Hall and for the opening of the Ellington Hall with Russian jazz legend David Goloschokin. The band played in St.Petersburg, Moscow, Ufa (with the great tenor player Oleg Kirejev), Novosibirsk and many other cities throughout the western part of Russia, Siberia and the Url Mountains.

In September 1997, Neil moved to New York for 7 months. While living in New York, he played with the Japanese drummer Fukushi Tainaka. Also, he sat-in with players such as Donald Harrison, Roy Hargrove, Roy Campbell, David Kikoski, Rodney Green, Dwayne Burno, Ted Curson and others at clubs such as Small`s, St. Marks, Lennox Lounge, the Blue Note and the Savoy. One of the highlights of Neil`s musical life came at a small Manhattan club called Nightingales. Saxophonist Arnie Lawrence invited Neil to be a part of his Sunday night sessions which included guitarist Cornell Dupree, members from the James Brown Band, B.B. King`s band, the Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler as well as brazilian percussionists, tap dancers, poets, celloists and others. Those sessions were incredible times of creativity, improvisation and communication. In 1998, as Neil was leaving New York for Tokyo, Arnie was leaving New York after 40 years of studio sessions, performing, and teaching (he started the jazz program at the New School) to go to Jerusalum, Israel to open up the International Center for Improvised Music. Recently in Tokyo, Neil has started a similar series of totally improvised sessions using players from many different genres of music. He calls these sessions the "Groove" Project, where the emphasis is on the "groove", improvisation, communication and just having a "good time."

Recently, Neil has been playing with a variety of people in Tokyo including the Tommy Campbell "Session" Band, duo with Jonathan Katz, the Mark Tourian Quintet and regularly sitting-in with the great musicans at Pickford Hall such as guitarist Aaron Blackman, vocalists Curtis Gaines, Melody Sexton, David King, Drew and TJ Gibson, pianist Keith Haynes, bassist Keith Williamson, Bladow (band from Cincinnati), drummer J Styx and all of the other great musicians involved with Pickford. He is performing with his own quartet(s) made up of Jim Murray and Yuichi Inoue on piano, bassist Nobuyuki Yano and drummer Kazumi Ikenaga in addition to doing the "Groove" Project Sessions.

Contact details and further information

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