Yes, I play live; thats' primarily how I make my living.

The internet allows for communication between musicians and music fans on a level that wasn't possible even just a few years ago.

That's not really my main concern, but I wouldn't turn down a good opportunity if one came up.

Background and Education
I was born in New Jersey in 1966, and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I started out playing trombone in school band and ended up sticking with it through my first year of music school in college. I first became interested in playing the guitar upon hearing records by the Beatles as a teenager. Later I became interested in jazz and classical music and sought study with Randy Wimer before deciding to continue my studies in college.
I received a bachelors degree in jazz studies from the University of North Texas, where I studied under Jack Petersen, Phillip Hii, and Rick Peckham. I also received a masters degree in jazz performance from the University of Miami, where I worked as the school's graduate teaching assistant for jazz guitar majors and studied under Randall Dollahon. While at the University of Miami, I was a member of the U of M Concert Jazz Band. As a member of this group, I had the opportunity to perform with jazz greats Randy Brecker and Bob Mintzer.

More recently I visited Boston and took a lesson with one of my heroes, Mick Goodrick, and got considerable food for thought that I'm still in the process of digesting. I currently teach jazz guitar at Miami/Dade Community College (Kendall campus)the New World School of the Arts in Miami. I also teach privately and have taught as a music professor at Broward Community College and Florida Atlantic University.

Performances
I've been performing in the South Florida area since 1990 as a freelance guitarist, playing gigs and recording sessions for Nicole Yarling, Jeff Taylor, Rick Krive, Hal Roland, Savana, Valerie Z and Paris, David Schanzer, Rueben Hoch and RH Factor, and others. I also often perform solo jazz and classical guitar. I've led my own groups, including the Tom Lippincott trio, and I was co-leader of the group Bluez Imbabwe with vocalist (and onetime wife) Adriana Samargia.
I've also played all over the world, in places like Guam, Italy, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

In order to make a living as a guitarist over the years I've had to play a lot of different styles and in a lot of different situations. Luckily, although my "first love" has always been jazz (and I seem to find myself gravitating most often toward performing and associating with musicians of a similar mindset) I love and appreciate a lot of different styles of music. I have played everything from classical to country, blues and rock, to Latin, reggae and top 40, and have usually found something to enjoy and/or learn from every situation. In fact, I feel that my exposure to these diverse styles of music has given my jazz playing and composing (and general musicianship) a much greater depth.

Recordings, Compositions, and Accolades
The 1990 release "Extra Strength" by the group Active Ingredient is currently available from Bainbridge Records, and features my playing, as well as five of my compositions. The CD is available from many record and online stores. I was the winner of the jazz category of Guitar Player Magazine's 1992 Ultimate Guitar Competition, and I was featured as artist of the month in the magazines' Spotlight column. My composition, "Turn Your Head and Cough" was featured on a compilation tape of the Ultimate Guitar Competition winners. I was also a member of the 1994 Sunfest All-stars, and in 1998 I performed as a member of RH Factor at the Hollywood Jazz Festival with special guest Dave Liebman. Recently, I wrote music for a student film entitled "The Only Way Out" and hope to do more film/video scoring in the future.
I recently finished work on my first CD as a solo artist, entitled "Painting the Slow Train Brown." The CD, which consists of my original post modern jazz compositions and performances, and which features longtime collaborators Randy Ward on bass, John Yarling on drums, and Nicole Yarling on violin, is available at my website, as well as at various online outlets.

my influences are many; just a few include jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, Johnny Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Jim Hall, Joe Henderson, John McLaughlin, Pat Martino, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Lenny Breau, Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Mick Goodrick, Charlie Haden, Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine, Ben Monder, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Henry Threadgill, Jim Black, and probably many more I'm not thinking of. I've also been heavily influenced by other styles of music, from pop/rock artists like the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, K.D. Lang, Emmylou Harris, and many others. Classical composers like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Mahler, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Ives, Copeland, and Berg (plus many others) have had a big impact on me, as well as film composers Bernard Herrman and Ennio Morricone.
As much as any music, I feel like my musical development has been influenced by books I've read(authors like Poe, Lovecraft, Tolkien, Dostoyevsky, Hemmingway, Thomas Hardy, Gunter Grass, John Irving, Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez), paintings I've seen (Picasso, Bosch, Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse, Frederic Remmington, George Catlin), poems (Archibald Macleish, e.e.cummings, William Carlos Williams)comedians like Charlie Chaplin, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, and films (from filmmakers such as Hitchcock, Fellini, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Sam Raimi, Darren Aronovsky, and many more).

that would probably have to be the Abruzzo valley in Italy

Conklin 8 string chambered solid body guitar tuned (from high to low) AEBGDAEB.
Godin Multiac nylon string
Strat style parts guitar
Roland/Boss preamps, effects, and guitar synthesizers
Boogie and Raezer's Edge cabinets