Jim Skinger graduated from Clark University where he initiated a guitar program that he directed for four years. He has studied with such notable teachers as Walter Kay-Bauer, the English composer John Duarte and lutist Diane Poulton. He composes and arranges in both classical and jazz idioms and has had several compositions published in the U.S. Germany and the U.K. He has performed with a jazz ensemble throughout the New York area and as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Festival Hall in London and the A. Schnitke Music Institute in Moscow. He has three CD's: The Jim Skinger Trio, Just for Friends, and Many Roads.