An interview by Courtenay Shipley

Tommy G, as he is affectionately known, is a rare occurrence. Seldom do you meet someone who has an impact on a town's jazz scene, is on everyone's "favorite human" list, AND who is as incredibly talented as he is. If there ever was a total package, it is Tommy. In fact, another musician I spoke with in passing said how funny it would be if everyone told a story about the impact Tommy has had on them. The humor is that we'd never run short on material. Tommy plays the drums and teaches and changes lives, one audience member at a time.

"I'm not sure why I wanted to be a drummer other than I liked banging on the bed with pencils and playing along with records as a kid. A friend of my mom's from high school was a drummer and I started taking lessons."

Flash forward from the early days in Philadelphia and Florida: after graduating from the University of Miami with a Bachelors Degree in jazz, Tommy decided to give Nashville a try since a friend was moving to Murfreesboro. His first gig was with Steve Roper, then various other artists and groups, but it wasn't until he called up Jeff Coffin to get together and play that he got involved in the rest of the jazz music scene. (You can hear Tommy and Jeff Coffin playing together on Coffin's cds Commonality and Go Round.). After that he began teaching at the Nashville Percussion Institute (unfortunately not around any longer) and its sister school, The Nashville Jazz Institute, which we now know as The Nashville Jazz Workshop. He has also been a volunteer at the W. O. Smith Community Music School for about 9 years. Tommy has also performed with Chris Walters, Liz Johnson, Jody Nardone, Rashaan Barber, the Middle TN Jazz Orchestra,and the faculty Jazz combo at Uni . . .