Paul is a full time musician who has achieved an equal level of proficiency on both guitar and sax.

He's worked and toured with Levon Helm and backed up Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and others while working with Levon, as well as playing with Rick Danko and Garth Hudson. He's also worked with jazz legends like Jimmy McGriff, Hank Crawford, and Jack DeJonette. Other bands include Orleans, Robbie DuPree as well as numerous local and regional acts on both the East and West Coasts. He is well versed in many styles from blues to rock to modern jazz and others. He consistently wows audiences with his prowess on both instruments and is told he plays each as if it was his only one.

His musical beginnings started in Seattle, Washington. Born to a music, contracting and real estate family, Warren took the path of music, leaving real estate for a later time. Warren’s father Eugene Warren, Sr. moonlighted as jazz pianist, organist and music contractor all over the Washington State and Canada while his mother and sisters sang in church. Warren recalls, “'I now realize that some of those people hanging out in our basement rehearsal room were Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles”, among others.

Warren was to be a pianist as was his older brother Eugene, Jr. and younger brother Walter. That changed when his father recruited his older brother Eugene, Jr. to play bass when his bassist couldn’t make the gig. He was hooked when he watched them rehearse with the rest of the band in his dad’s basement rehearsal room. By age 5 he was sitting on his brother’s lap picking Motown tunes on a scaled down Dan Electro bass. He was also sneaking down to the rehearsal room to try out every instrument left behind for the next rehearsal. By age 7, Warren was dabbling on guitar, piano, organ, and vibes, occasionally trying out saxophone and trombone. While he never really took formal lessons on any of them, by 9 years old, he gained enough knowledge and facility to show his friends how to get around the instruments and eventually started his first band at age 10. He taught his younger brother the bass so he could play piano. He recalls, “that was the first time I ever got paid to do what I truly loved. We made 10 bucks and came to 2 dollars each!” By 12 years old, he had formed his first 3-piece horn band with trumpet, sax and trombone. Needing to teach the trombone player how to play various riffs and phrases, he learned to play trombone by ear. Realizing how much he enjoyed the instrument Warren continued to play the trombone for the next 20 years.

Warren decided to leave Seattle for a short Navy career in San Diego, which did not include music study. He eventually moved to the Oakland bay area to pursue a music career. Landing at Laney College, Warren recalls, “Jazz Pianist professor Ed Kelly was the jazz band director. I remember walking into the music department and asking him if I could play bass. Looking over his glasses, he pointed over to the bass chair where there were at least 8 guys and one girl standing, handed me a bass trombone and said ’go home and practice this and you can play’. I played in the trombone section for the next 2 years. That was 1975. I eventually bought myself an electric bass and borrowed an upright and started playing mostly trombone gigs around the bay area with groups such as the Caribbean All Stars, the Ballads and Son & Daughters of Lite. For about 2 years, no one at Laney knew I was a bassist. They would always refer to me as the “that bad trombone player.” Eventually, due to cracks in my front teeth, I retired the trombone and went back to playing bass€�.