Jazz Articles about Norman David

About Norman David

Album Review

Saxophonist/composer/arranger/band leader Norman David grew up and matured as a musician in Montreal and moved to Boston to study with the late, revered, and multifaceted Herb Pomeroy at the famed Berklee College of Music. While there, in 1980, David founded a large jazz ensemble just a few members short of a full big band called the “Eleventet." It melded the improvisational qualities of a small ensemble with the rich sound and interactional possibilities of a big band. He found it ...

Live Review

Norman David and Group 4 at Chris’ Jazz Cafe

by Victor L. Schermer
May 2, 2023

Norman David and Group 4 Chris' Jazz Café Philadelphia, PA April 25, 2023 Norman David is a saxophonist/clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator par excellence, and for many years has directed his high-powered larger ensemble, the Eleventet, first in Boston, then at Colby College in Maine, and for the last 25 or so years in Philadelphia. For a short time around the the turn of the new millenium, David fronted a small ...

Interview

Norman David: Forty-Year Wizard of The Eleventet

by Victor L. Schermer
August 4, 2021

A few years ago, a musician friend suggested I go hear a band that was playing at a place in Bella Vista, Philadelphia, a neighborhood with a significant jazz history (violinist Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang lived there and are honored with several plaques and a mural) -but not much current music to speak of. The venue turned out to be a bar-restaurant with a recently remodeled music room on the second floor with surprisingly good acoustics and sound ...

Album Review

Norman David: The Eleventet - Please Call

Read "The Eleventet - Please Call" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
February 4, 2017

Clarinetist and soprano saxophonist Norman David founded and has been leading Philadelphia's Eleventet for over three decades. After thirty years playing in in and around the city, the band found their recording groove with their first CD, At This Time (Norman David/Coolcraft, 2011). Now, in this new release, they deliver swinging and ear-popping sounds while at the same time offering nuances, subtleties, and creative ideas that generate interest for the more serious listener. David plays a mean soprano sax, while ...

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Live Review

Norman David Eleventet: Philadelphia, PA May 27, 2011

by Victor L. Schermer
June 11, 2011

Norman David Eleventet Little Bar Philadelphia, PAMay 27, 2011 With the closing of Zanzibar Blue and Ortlieb's Jazzhaus, Philadelphia has lost two of its iconic jazz clubs, further diluting an already limited constellation of venues. So it's encouraging to see music coordinators Greg Matthews and Mike Boone taking up some of the slack via a jazz series they recently inaugurated at the Little Bar located at the corner of 8th and Fitzwater Streets in the ...