An avid record collector, James' widespread tastes have served him well as a journalist and as a musician. James' self-exposed broad spectrum of influence has lent to his versatility as a player and director in an array of genres. Originally from BILOXI, MS, James began playing piano at age five. In his days at BILOXI HIGH SCHOOL, James performed with the esteemed choir THE BILOXIANS as a vocalist and accompanist, and gave several recitals. He was honored to attend the State Choral Retreat twice, and traveled often to other cities, including a performance at the CAPITOL BUILDING in Washington, DC. In Gulfport/Biloxi, James served as Music Director at CENTER STAGE and GULFPORT LITTLE THEATER, and as a pit musician at SAENGER THEATER. It was also during this time he served as a Contributing Writer and Biloxi High School Representative for the PULITZER PRIZE-winning newspaper THE MISSISSIPPI SUN HERALD. James received many honors from city and state competitions, was selected for the event choir at MISS TEEN U.S.A. (hosted by DICK CLARK.) After high school, he was a member of a Rock band called SCOUNDREL.

James left Mississippi for BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC, where he worked as a pianist for the VOICE DEPARTMENT. and performed for a variety of student recordings and recitals. He also worked as a road assistant for MARC ROSSI and STAN STRICKLAND's group ASCENSION. He graduated Berklee with a Bachelor's Degree in Professional Music. After a long residence in MUMBO JUMBO - a band from his Berklee days - he explored different options. In addition to playing music, he stayed active in Music Journalism, serving as a Features Editor for THE NOISE, and organizing and hosting the LIMELIGHT RECORDS radio special on Harvard's WHRB. James' show featured interviews of Limelight CEO ROBIN MCBRIDE and CORK MARCHESCHI of 60's Psychedelic band FIFTY FOOT HOSE.

Soon thereafter, James subbed for acclaimed Boston-based jam band HAZIE MAZE for a few months. It wasn't long before he was recruited as the Music Director for R&B/Soul act LUVJONES. During its tenure, the group met much success. Among many other gigs, they headlined a 9-11 BENEFIT at the former Harvard Square HOUSE OF BLUES.

He's backed R&B artists including NICHELLE MUNGO, SOL ANDERSON, LEE WILSON, NOLDY, JAMILAH HARRIS ALLWOOD, BRIAN GLOVER, and many more. He's played at a host of notable venues on the East Coast, and performed regularly at several high profile private functions - including the birthday party for the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor, KERRY HEALEY. He continued writing; publishing two features and several reviews on German eZine GEDUP.COM.

In 2003, James became Music Director of VELVET STYLUS, who has performed at community events such as The MASS INDUSTRY COMMITTEE HIP-HOP AWARDS, THE BERKLEE ALUMNI SHOWCASE at HARD ROCK CAFE, CRITICAL BREAKDOWN, and HIP-HOP ANONYMOUS, as well as other Boston venues. Velvet Stylus has backed METAPHORICK, DL, ILLIN' P, DANIELLE SCOTT, AFRODZAK, LETIA LAROK, D-TENSION, SESSION, and many other notable Boston Hip-Hop artists. The group is featured on the PROJECT: THINK DIFFERENT EMPOWERMENT album, sponsored in part by the Boston City MAYOR'S OFFICE.

In September 2005, he served as Event Accompanist for the TRI-AD VETERANS LEAGUE/VULCAN SOCIETY for their Fourth Annual 9/11 Memorial Service. The event, co-organized by acclaimed author HAYWOOD FENNELL, SR., was held at the historic First Church of Roxbury and aired on Boston Cable Television. James had the honor of accompanying long-time Soul recording artist (and Judge) HON. MILTON L. WRIGHT (brother of BETTY WRIGHT and cousin of KOOL from Kool and the Gang) and Soprano soloist VELMA DuPONT.

In the course of his career, James has opened for national acts including AMEL LARRIEUX, MISSING JOE, VERTICAL HORIZON, DRE ROBINSON, JOE BUDDEN, ROYCE DA 5'9, and DEVIN THE DUDE.

Continuing to work as a journalist he contributed articles for globally popular eZine MUSICBIZADVICE.COM (his Jaco Pastorius article garnered record-breaking hits for the site.) and interview features with RED K RECORDS CEO CLAYTON SAVAGE (Sugarhill Records, Kool Moe Dee, Sequence, Grandmaster Melle Mel) and Platinum-selling, Grammy-award winning songwriter and musician JAY GRAYDON. More recently, he landed a stint writing reviews for Philadelphia-based worldwide e-Zine OKAYPLAYER.COM, which is the online hub of ?UESTLOVE and THE ROOTS as well as other conscious artists including JILL SCOTT, COMMON, and ERYKAH BADU. While James loves variety, his heart lives in Hip-Hop and R&B.

An expert on the history of Hip-Hop, James designed a comprehensive academic course on this subject. For DIGGIN' IN THE CRATES: THE HISTORY OF HIP-HOP, which can be modified for all age levels, James uses his vast personal collection of music, books, out-of-print magazines, DVDs, and huge arsenal of Hip-Hop music videos spanning the entire history, as teaching tools. James serves as Co-Founder and Resident Hip-Hop History Clinician for THE BOSTON HIP-HOP ALLIANCE; a growing service organization for Hip-Hop professionals. The BHHA hosts nearly 450 members from all spectrum of Hip-Hop at all levels. They are a recent BERKLEE ALUMNI GRANT recipient and work colloboratively to publicize and assist many events and organizations, including the MASS INDUSTRY COMMITTEE, PEACE BOSTON, THE BERKLEE/ESSENCE TAKE BACK THE MUSIC COMPETITION AND SUMMIT, HIP-HOP RECONSTRUCTION/BOSTON HIP-HOP FESTIVAL 2006, NUMARK/ALESIS/AKAI MILESTONES 2006, THE BOSTON BEAT BATTLE 2006, and many more.

James presents well-received Hip-Hop history vignette clinics at various events around Boston. Frequently called on for his expertise, James became a reader and cultural resource for architect BRIAN BARIL's "Hip-Hop Cultural Center" Architectural Masters Thesis (the student earned a A for the year.) He also served as Hip-Hop Culture resource for author TOM ZOELLNER's book THE HEARTLESS STONE: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE WORLD OF DIAMONDS AND DESIRE, for the Hip-Hop-related chapter.

James recently participated as a guest presenter about Hip-Hop in CORE Curriculum (with DAVID COWAN and GILSON SCHACHNICK) at BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC during their faculty conference Berklee Teachers on Teaching (BTOT.) He has also lectured at FISHER COLLEGE and served as a cultural resource to students at HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, EMERSON COLLEGE, NORWICH UNIVERSITY, BOSTON UNIVERSITY, and BOSTON COLLEGE with their Hip-Hop related projects.

He returned to Berklee for BTOT in January and again for a Hip-Hop business symposium to be held by the Music Business Department. He lectured twice in February 2007 at SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT about Hip-Hop History and Culture. He currently teaches Music Theory and Arranging at BOSTON UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR DIGITAL IMAGING ARTS and volunteered as the Piano Lab teacher in BERKLEE CITY MUSIC'S MENTORING PROGRAM. He served as a judge for IHIGH.COM's Hip-Hop related music competitions; judging alongside legendary producer DJ PREMIER and media personalities from VH1/MTV, XM RADIO, and FUSE TV. James joined the faculty at Cambridge-based afterschool program THE VUK SCHOOL OF GROOVE in the Spring of 2007 as HEAD of the HIP-HOP DEPARTMENT. Most recently, his band Velvet Stylus backed West Coast Hip-Hop luminary MEDUSA and the disco band he plays for, (BOOTY VORTEX), opened for JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS at the legendary ROXY night club in Boston.