I was born in Houlton, Maine in 1973 and spent my early years on my parents’ bean farm in Mount Chase, Maine.  We moved to Portland, Maine and then to Sharon, Massachusetts.  As a teenager, I studied jazz piano at New England Conservatory Prep School and played in garage bands.

In 1991, I went to Wesleyan University, where I met Anthony Braxton.  He encouraged me take to up the accordion and soon recruited me for projects, including his creative orchestra, quartet and a duo.  We made eight records together.  I was 19 when I did my first session with him.

After graduating from Wesleyan, I went straight to New York, where I continued to play with Braxton, but also sought out musicians my own age like John Hollenbeck, Matt Moran and Chris Speed.  I began curating a concert series at alt.coffee.  I started working with people from the rock world like Eszter Balint and JD Foster.  I also started playing klezmer music with David Krakauer and Alicia Svigals of the Klezmatics.

alt.coffee morphed into Tonic, which thanks to John Zorn is the world’s premier venue for new music.  I still play with John, Matt and Chris in the Claudia Quintet, Slavic Soul Party and Chris’s band Yeah/No.  I’ve played with some great singer/songwriters including Paul Simon, Sam Phillips, Sue Garner, Sally Timms, and Elysian Fields.  I don’t play klezmer anymore, but I did make a record for Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture series.  I’ve also worked with many other great musicians including Jim Black, Anthony Coleman, Catherine Jauniaux, Eyvind Kang, Guy Klucevsek, Marc Ribot, Roberto Rodriguez, Elliott Sharp, Eberhard Weber, Sanda Weigl and Doug Wieselman.

Lately I’ve been spending the bulk of my time composing, including a set of deconstructions of Christmas carols for the soundtrack of the film "Rick."  I am also touring with el Septeto Roberto Rodriguez and the Claudia Quintet, as well as with Chris Speed and with Sanda Weigl.  I reside in Brooklyn with my lovely wife Julie Warsowe.