Al was born and raised in Dunedin where he learnt drums, taught himself guitar, and played in bands. He moved to Wellington in 1994 to study jazz guitar at the Massey University Conservatorium of Music, and attained a Bachelor of Music in 2000.
Since 1999 he has been a practitioner of nga taonga puoro – researching, making, and performing with the instruments. His musical ability, artistic creativity, and respect for Te Ao Maori has brought him many opportunities to collaborate with some of Aotearoa's finest artists across various musical genres, artistic disciplines, and within a diverse range of creative, cultural, and educative communities.
Al enjoys a critically acclaimed reputation as an exponent of ngā taonga pūoro. He has worked in collaboration with many notable and revered New Zealand artists, including Dr Richard Nunns, Riki Gooch, Ariana Tikao, Trinity Roots, Motu Oiléain, STROMA, Bridget Douglas, NZ String Quartet, David Long, Natalia Mann and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and on some of the most rigorously artistic, culturally diverse and significant projects that span a range of styles from jazz and classical to experimental and ambient.
He has been a member of collaborative music projects including Tahu, The Woolshed Sessions, Oro, Shearwater Drift, Ponguru and Panthalasa. Al was a Wild Creations Artist Resident in 2011, a Churchill Fellow in 2016, and a researcher with Otago University and Hokotehi Moriori Trust 2017-2019. Al was a featured soloist on Michael Norris’ Mātauranga (Rerenga), a composition that won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award at the 2020 Silver Scrolls.
