Not one to play it safe and swim in waters others have swum, David is an acclaimed jazz guitarist and innovative composer working in a highly original modern vein. What defines his music is defiance of labels. To wit: although he was schooled as a bebop guitarist studying with Charlie Shoemake in Los Angeles for many years, he was exploring odd meters and long form composition in the early 1990s (All Stories Are True) long before that was fashionable as it is today. His acclaimed band, Big Neighborhood (nominated for a Grammy with Neighbors), combined eclectic guitar-synth contrapuntalism with edgy improvisation. His current trio project blends elements of rock, progressive, folk and bebop.

 

He has worked with George Garzone, Valery Ponomarev, Jeff Ballard, John Lockwood, Tim Armacost, and Stomu Takeishi, among many others, has 7 CDs as a leader, and toured extensively throughout North America. His orientation is fusion, not in the Spyro Gyra sense but in the truest meaning of weaving diverse influences from Frank Zappa to Paul Hindemith to Led Zeppelin to John Coltrane into a cohesive, progressive 21st century jazz. In short, his music defies those that seek solace in the orthodox while rewarding the curious with something that continues to sound fresh and new no matter how often played.

 

He was raised in Chile, New York City and Spain, and makes his home in the San Francisco Bay Area (US).