Dave is a native of Hamilton, NJ. He started taking private lessons on the piano at age 4 and picked up the saxophone at age 9. In high school he won many soloist awards in different jazz competitions and had the chance to perform with the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras, Richie Cole, Bob Mintzer, and Claudio Roditi. After high school he continued his education at William Paterson University, where he is currently in his final year. He will graduate in May, 2010 with a Music Education/Jazz Studies degree. There he studied under Mulgrew Miller, Vincent Herring, Gary Smulyan, David Demsey, Armen Donelian, and James Weidman. Dave has played at many great venues with various bands, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Chris’ Jazz Café, Ortleib’s Jazz Haus and Zanzibar Blue in Philadelphia, PA, the Jazz Standard and the Rainbow Room in NYC, and has toured the countries of Greece and China. He currently plays in the NY/NJ/PA area with his own band as well as in other various groups, and is a member of the Lakewood Jazz Ensemble. Dave is also heavily involved with teaching music. He’s been teaching saxophone, flute, and clarinet privately since he was 15 years old. He also has taught piano and trumpet as well. He currently is the director of the Steinert High School Spartan Jazz band. He has brought this band to many jazz band competitions in the area, including the Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Band competition.