Before Alan and his wife, Allison, moved to Hilton Head in ‘93, he nearly sold his drums, but nobody wanted to buy them. Good thing!. He hadn’t played in several years and he thought they were too bulky to transport, but after he arrived on the
Island, he took lessons from jazz drummer, Paul McDevitt. In college, he was inspired by Dave Brubeck’s drummer, Joe Morello,
and even today listens to CD’s of jazz pianist Bill Evans regularly. Joining the Dixieland Jazz Society was an important next
step in his percussion development and style.
In his previous life, after graduating from Northwestern University Dental School,
he served in the Navy for three years, including two years aboard an icebreaker that deployed to the Arctic and Antarctic. He
returned to his home town, Evanston, Illinois, where he and Allison raised three sons, now grown and living in the Chicago and Atlanta
areas.
He was a quarter miler in high school and college, was a speedskater, coached youth hockey for 10 years, and has competed
in 10K rollerblade races since living here. You may have seen him doing close-up, slight of hand magic at hotels, dinner parties,
restaurants, and family functions. He had a small business in scenic photography back in Evanston and printed his own Cibachrome
16x20 color scenes. His pen and ink sketches of local scenes and commissioned homes were natural progressions and his note cards
are featured in shops around the Island. South Beach Racquet Club is his home tennis court where he plays 3 times a week and
Spanish Wells is his favorite venue for golf.
He first attended the Society in 1993 shortly after he arrived here, and joined
immediately. When Pete wanted to step down from his leadership position, Alan organized a committee to manage the Society. He
has been President since 1997and the Newsletter Editor since 1999. He continues to appreciate the support of both musicians and audience
members of the Dixieland Jazz Society, and together, they have expanded many of his horizons monumentally.