With the release of his first-class debut album, "Waltz for Eli," First Class Petty Officer Jonah David demonstrates that it is indeed possible to follow two masters. The 47-year-old New Jersey native, now stationed in Hawaii, describes the album as a "snapshot" of his life over the past four years, during which he served as a percussion instructor at the Naval School of Music in Virginia Beach and worked as a drummer there and in surrounding towns.
RICHMOND, Calif., Jan. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Drummer Jonah David is already a fully formed and remarkably accomplished artist as he arrives in the jazz world with the February 28 release of his debut, "Waltz for Eli," on Swish Tap Records. Produced with a core trio of pianist Joel Sanford and bassist Joe Bussey, plus an impressive array of special guests, David introduces himself with an infectious set of straight-ahead jazz tunes, delivered with aplomb and crisp precision.
Indeed, one might even call it "military precision," but that's a bit on the nose. David is a career U.S. Navy Sailor as a musician, currently holding the rank of First Class Petty Officer and stationed in Hawaii. While he recorded "Waltz for Eli" in 2024, though, David was working as a percussion instructor at the Naval School of Music in Virginia Beach, VA, as well as a first-call drummer on the surrounding Hampton Roads jazz scene.
"My duties as a Navy musician made producing this (any) project challenging," David says in the album's liner notes. "My goal was to create a Jazz aesthetic that is accessible to both connoisseurs and laymen…. Additionally, I aimed to cultivate a group of musicians who trust each other and could 'speak' their perspectives on the music."
"Waltz for Eli" is an unqualified success on both counts. The core trio's take on Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning" evidences their synchronicity both emotional and rhythmic, Sanford and Bussey playfully locking in with David at the dead center of the beat. The addition of guest guitarist Jake Stith and tenor saxophonist Jason Arce on "Little Sunflower" gives that Freddie Hubbard standard a sinuous, scintillating edge; conversely, Bryan Carrott's gorgeous vibraphone on "How Insensitive" (with Arce switching to flute) softens the bossa nova's mien. Jeremy Pelt's trumpet, meanwhile, puts a declaratory, yet inquiring, character into the original "Pretenderly," and vocalist Anna Perkins colors "Waltz for Eli" and "Sunrise, Sunset" (from "Fiddler on the Roof") with enigmatic romance.
While the album has one other auxiliary musician, it wouldn't be fair to call keyboardist Ettienne Stadwijk a special guest. No doubt that his Fender Rhodes irradiates "Sunrise, Sunset," and his organ adds unexpected crunch to "The Genius"—but Stadwijk is also David's co-composer on all of the album's three originals, as well as his co-producer, and even helped with the arrangement of "Little Sunflower." David credits Stadwijk as an important mentor earlier in his career. "Ettienne looked out for me and helped me develop my pop sensibilities," he says.
Still and all, "Waltz for Eli" remains David's own statement, and a tremendously personal one, even as it was designed to accentuate both his own strengths and those of his accompanists. "It took time to grow this sound, to bring out each other's strengths and get to know each other all over again," David says. "But I couldn't be happier with the way things came out."
Jonah David was born October 30, 1977, in South Orange, New Jersey, just outside New York City. His father had been an activist attorney in New Orleans, putting David at the intersection of two jazz hubs from birth. His introduction to jazz, and to the drums in particular, came from a Preservation Hall Jazz Band record in his father's collection. The next phase came in middle school, when a band teacher gave him drumsticks and a copy of the seminal drumming book "Syncopation" by Ted Reed (to whom "Waltz for Eli"'s "The Genius" is dedicated).
By high school it was settled: David was devoting his life to the drum kit. He quickly developed enough proficiency to start gigging; spent his summers at the Drummers Collective in Manhattan; and studied music at Rutgers University and the New School. From there, David went on tour with ska/reggae artist King Django and with the Brooklyn Funk Essentials (for which he was hired by Ettienne Stadwijk), then got a steady gig at Manhattan's Nuyorican Poets Café, which led to the formation of the band Roots Tonic, the original backing band for Matisyahu.
A difficult personal situation led to David enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 2010. He was stationed around the country—in Illinois, Washington State, and Maryland—and spent three years in Italy before becoming an instructor in percussion at the Naval School of Music in Virginia Beach. There he met Joe Bussey and Joel Sanford, who joined David in his regular trio in the Hampton Roads region (Virginia Beach/Norfolk/ Chesapeake/Hampton, VA). In 2024, they—along with his old friend Stadwijk—became the core ensemble for "Waltz for Eli," his stunning debut album.
Media Contact
Terri Hinte, Terri Hinte Public Relations, +15102348781, [email protected], http://www.terrihinte.com
SOURCE Terri Hinte Public Relations
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