he went to the berklee college of music in 1974, studying music theory, arranging, and composition. after getting his degree, he returned to new orleans with his girlfriend, jazz guitarist emily remler, and founded the group fourplay (not to be confused with the later jazz group of the same name). from 1976 to 1978, he studied classical composition and orchestration with bert braud, a teacher at the new orleans center for creative arts who also taught terence blanchard, harry connick, jr., branford marsalis, and wynton marsalis.