I was born in 1965 in Manchester, Connecticut, the eldest son of Joseph and Lorraine Sabatella. I grew up in nearby South Windsor, and our familiy moved to North Palm Beach, Florida in 1976. I attended Palm Beach Gardens High School and graduated in 1983. I received a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science (double major) from Florida State University in 1987, and an MS in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. After college, I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I worked for Hewlett-Packard from 1988 to 1996.
Ever since grade school, music was never far from the forefront of my life. In December of 1996, I made the decision to make it my full time career. In 1999, I moved to the Denver area in order to be part of the active jazz scene there.
Shortly after moving to Denver I became increasingly interested in painting. I studied at the Art Students League of Denver and began showing my work regularly in 2001. Photography was added to the mix a few years later.
In 2004, I married jazz vocalist and radio personality Wendy Fopeano. We currently live in Wheat Ridge, Colorado with our cat Sylvie. I teach at the University of Denver, perform regularly around Denver, and paint as often as I can.