David Chesky is without doubt a modern-day Renaissance man. He has earned indisputable respect for his unique, eclectic musical compositions spanning both Jazz and Classical idioms in addition to his prominence in the audiophile community for the development of new recording technologies.
Born in Miami, Florida, David Chesky came to New York in 1974 and began his career in music as the composer, arranger and pianist in his own Jazz big band in 1978. With this big band, David performed at every major Jazz club and festival (Storyville, The Village Vanguard, The Newport, JVC and Monterey Jazz Festivals to name a few) and released the album Rush Hour on the Columbia label that year. David, however, did not limit himself to the study of Jazz composition, but continually studied Classical techniques and immersed himself in composing, arranging and orchestrating in both Jazz and Classical styles as first displayed when in 1984 David composed Central Park Morning for the Empire Brass Quintet and Orchestra.
In 1986, along with his brother, David founded Chesky Records, which exists now as a Classical, Jazz, and World audiophile record label in New York City. David acts as producer and artistic director on all Chesky recordings and is known throughout the world as being one of the leaders in the advancement of technical research on recording methods - creating new, advanced recording techniques in order to make the finest musical recordings currently available. David has pioneered and is responsible for the creation of the world's first 128x oversampled recordings, the world's first 96kHz/24bit recordings, and is currently introducing the world's first 6.0 Multi-Channel 96/24 DVD-Audio Discs.
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In 1987, Chesky released his first Jazz quintet recording on his label entitled Club de Sol, which was an unequivocal success, garnering critical raves from the Jazz community. Following this release, David continued to explore the possibilities of a Jazz/Classical hybrid with his 1990 release, New York Chorinhos for guitar and piano, which featured noted Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo. The New York Chorinhos was a stunning departure, taking the classical Brazilian Chorinho form and updating it by featuring Brazilian rhythms that blend in with contemporary jazz and classical harmonies. In 1992, David took this piano and guitar concept one step further with the Tangos & Dances, representing a darker and more passionate take on Latin American music. In 1996 David composed The Fantasies for Solo Piano, a tour de force demonstrating the full potential of the piano as an expressive instrument-borrowing from all that's best in Latin music while finding inspiration in the grand tradition of the classical Fantasia form.
In 1997, David composed Three Psalms for String Orchestra, three compositions based on Psalms 1, 2 & 3 as reflections on inner spirituality in the modern world. David followed this orchestral work with The Agnostic, a synthesis of existential philosophies of the last century into a powerful hymn for modern-day man. In 2001, David recorded Psalms 4, 5 & 6: Remembrance for the Victims of the Modern Holocausts for Orchestra, Cello and Clarinet soloists in which he once again further explored the relationship between spiritual depravity, oppression and injustice in our world. In 2002, David composed Power & Innocence - an Oratorio exploring the travesty of child exploitation in the modern world. This powerful, dark piece is scored for full orchestra, choir, boys choir, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone soloists. Taking a break from composing dark, large orchestral works, David has returned to his Latin American roots composing the Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (2002), Song #9 (2002) for Soprano and Orchestra based on a poem by the great Cuban poet Jose Marti as well as the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (2002) which all combine to comprise the Spanish American Suite. As well as composing Classical music, David plays piano with his Jazz trio Jazz in the New Harmonic where David takes classic Jazz standards and reharmonizes them with 12 tone and contemporary classical harmonies.
Foreseeing our nation's children growing up without an appreciation for music and fearing the possibility of empty concert halls, David was recently inspired to create a fun way to endear classical music to a young audience. The result is Chesky Records Kids, a new division of Chesky Records which will focus on music education and environmental awareness. The first release from the new division was Classical Cats�-A Children's Introduction to the Orchestra, and was followed by The Snowbears of Lake Louise.
Drawing inspiration and influences from a variety of musical, artistic, and emotional sources around the world, David Chesky encompasses and recasts it all with a skill and veracity that touches every listener fortunate enough to hear his music. Show less
