Jesse's family returned to Canada, and at age 6 he was enrolled in the prestigious Eli Kassner Guitar Academy. During his 16 years of study, he also attended Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, York University, and Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Still unfulfilled, Jesse returned to Spain and France to rediscover the mystic flamenco of his childhood, seeking out the guitar masters of Andalusia, Cordoba, Granada and Madrid. And once, on a warm summer evening on a rooftop in Arles, Jesse found himself jamming with the Gypsy Kings.

He pursued a successful career in Toronto as a composer for dance, theatre, mutilmedia, television & film, producing every genre of music from classical to rap. In 1995, his rumba flamenco compositions were featured on the TV Guide Channel, introducing them to nearly three million Canadian Viewers and generating an overwhelming demand for the music that culminated in his first album, TEMPEST.

The album was first released independantly in Canada to great public and critical acclaim. Jesse was quickly snapped up for a multi-album international record deal with Narada, which released TEMPEST in the U.S. Two weeks later, following standing-room-only performances at the Catalina Jazz Festival, Jesse debuted on Billboard at no.14 and remained on the chart for almost a year.

Fans and reviewers continue to be wowed by Jesse's fiery performances, including an eight-day stint at the Montreal Jazz Festival where he was proclaimed one of the four standout artists of the 1996 lineup.

His new album, GRAVITY, is a lush contemporary production executed with the precision of a masterful player, composer, arranger and producer. "One of my biggest influences on the production side is Peter Gabriel," Jesse says. 'The work he's done combining various kinds of world music is really exciting and accessible. On GRAVITY, I'm experimenting with rumba flamenco, introducing it to different musical traditions from around the world. And though sometimes the music produced is a completely new hybrid, my goal is always to make these unions sound so organic that they are almost familiar, as if a lost folk tradition was rediscovered."