Roger immigrated to Canada from Jamaica and was amazed to learn that music was considered a legitimate course in high school. At the time, the movie Rocky was very popular and featured an unforgettable trumpet fanfare.  Roger signed up to play trumpet thinking it would be easy but discovered it was the most difficult thing he’d ever tried. A few years later, his music teacher played a record of Urbie Green from the album 21 Trombones and he was impressed with the range, speed and colour the trombone was capable of. That Christmas he made the switch to the trombone. Roger came to love music more than anything else that he was studying but his immigrant parents couldn’t relate to this as a serious profession. Not to be denied, he joined a jazz quintet made of other guys who were all just learning how to play. They had one thing in common and that was to learn how to play jazz.   They sounded awful for many years but eventually produced some presentable music. In the process, they became the best of friends and stayed together for 22 years until Roger moved from Toronto to Peterborough.

Roger studied privately with various musicians – trombonist Rob McConnell, bass player Pat Collins and pianist Mark Eisenman. His classical training came from the Royal Conservatory of Music under David Archer, principal trombonist for the National Ballet of Canada. Roger pursued the Royal Conservatory Music program to the Grade 10 level.

In addition to playing with the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, since moving to Peterborough, Roger has become involved in the pit orchestras for Peterborough Theatre Guild as well as the St. James Players. He joined and led the Ron Marenger Big Band and has freelanced with local musicians such as Rick Fines and Jimmy Bowskill. 

Roger  now has roots in the community establishing both business and home here in Peterborough.  He is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and volunteers his time for several non-profit groups.