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David Schmalenberger

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Dr. David Schmalenberger recently performed on drumset/percussion with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, the Laura Caviani trio, the Steeles, Garrison Keillor, the Daisy Dillman Band,Cantus, cabaret legend Marilyn Maye, Take That Back!, Rebel Fiddle, the Joan Hutton Jazz Project,DAT Trio, and the Childrens Theatre Company. David also recently recorded with vocalist Connie Evingson (“Sweet Happy Life”), guitarist David Singley (“Good Hope”), trumpeter Chuck Lazarus (“Lovejoy” and “Merry and Bright”), Vicky Mountain and David Martin (“Play On”), the Laura Caviani trio with Chris Bates (“Mysterious Thelonius” and “Confluence”), and the Bill Simenson Jazz Orchestra (“Big Alpaca”).

David is active as a clinician offering workshops in jazz, percussion, and world music. Schmalenberger has served as adjudicator/clinician for several jazz festivals, both regionally and nationally. He has also presented scholarly papers and clinics for the Percussive Arts Society, the Society for American Music, the Minnesota Music Educators Association, and the International Association of Jazz Education.

Schmalenberger received his DMA in Percussion Performance and World Music from West Virginia University, Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Percussion from the University of Michigan, and Bachelors Degree in Jazz Studies from Capital University. David endorses Paiste cymbals and Premier drums.

Joan Hutton / Sue Orfield: Splash

by Jerome Wilson
August 14, 2024

Alto saxophonist Joan Hutton and tenor saxophonist Sue Orfield co-lead a quintet out of the US Midwest called Take That Back. The band's distinctive sound rises out of the rich dialogue between their two leaders. They flow, stomp and roll through a program of mostly original music with high spirits and style. “Splash" and “Playhouse Bats" work through lively New Orleans funk grooves and “#sixfeet" sounds like a Second Line variation on John Coltrane's “Giant Steps." “Atari Afternoon" ...

Album Review

Joan Hutton & Sue Orfield: Take That Back

Read "Take That Back" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 27, 2022

Joan Hutton and Sue Orfield's Take that Back opens with the smooth dark chocolate crooning of Hutton's bass clarinet. The tune is “Dirty Secret," a Hutton-penned, mid-tempo gem. And initially what comes to mind is (Bennie Maupin and Eric Dolphy aside) how rarely we hear the bass clarinet on a jazz album. Then Orfield's tenor sax enters and interweaves lines with Hutton's, and the pairing of sounds presented with the two reeds and the piano, bass and drums rhythm team ...