As the youngest of four kids in the Hajian household, Seth absorbed a lot of the different music that was floating around. Music was something the gave tremendous emotion to his life starting in the early 1970’s. The Beatles, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, The Allman Brothers, Dave Brubeck, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Stan Kenton, Steve Miller, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and of course those incredible 70’s sitcom shows with theme songs like Sanford and Son, Barney Miller and The Mary Tyler Moore Show became the everyday music that Seth grew to love.. It always seemed something new was coming out of the AM radio in the station wagon or the stereo speakers in the living room being carried on the airwaves of local radio stations.

When he entered 5th grade, Seth began playing the clarinet, studying under Thomas Greene a local legend and elementary school music teacher. Later in 8th grade with encouragement from Gene Massa, he began playing tenor saxophone. It was at this point, he began private instruction with Herb Toro, a well known professional musician who had been part of the jazz and big band scene in Rhode Island for decades. It was at this time that he began playing the guitar. 

With his love of music firmly in place, Seth began trying to emulate the music he heard on records, tapes and the radio. He taught himself how to play the guitar completely by ear and by watching other guitarists as they played. Eventually, an electric guitar and amp was purchased, about the time he started his undergraduate work at the University of Rhode Island in the fall of 1987. In a short amount of time, like minded musicians were befriended, rehearsal space was created and the first of many bands was started. During his college years, he played countless college parties along with the smokey bars of Newport and Narragansett.  

Seth has worked continuously as a guitarist since the early 1990’s. He has recorded with many Rhode Island artists such as Plan 9, The Lincoln Tunnel and Johnny Watson and the New Decade Band. His love of all types and styles of music has allowed him to play with alternative, indie, country rock, blues and rhythm and blues bands over the past thirty years. It is with this wide background provided by the melting pot of the Rhode Island music scene that he brings his talents to the Brian James Quartet. Listening to the band play, one will hear country licks, jazz fusion lines, Chicago blues and straight ahead rock and roll coming right at the audience. But just as important as the guitar leads are, it is the deep, deep pocket of rhythm guitar backing up Brian and the rest of the band that keeps the rhythm alive.  It’s this wide wash of musical colors that along with the rest of the band, help to create a rich musical painting that is the music of the Brian James Quartet.