Home » Jazz Musicians » David Tranchina

David Tranchina

Bassist, Composer, and Educator, David Tranchina is a bassist known for his big warm sound, solid groove and inventive melodic solos.  He has composed music for Jazz ensembles, chamber ensembles, and has written music for animation and documentary films including the 2013 release “A Fuller Life”.  He is a founding member of the band Slumgum, and has performed with them all over the U.S.  He has also excelled as a music teacher, working with many students individually or in small group settings, as well as doing workshops with people of all ages while on tours of the country.  He currently lives in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Originally from Forestville, California, he started playing bass at age 13, and was self taught until he began studies with Classical bass virtuoso Barry Green at UC Santa Cruz where he earned is Bachelor’s Degree in Music.  In 2006 He moved to Los Angeles to attend Calarts, where he studied with Charlie Haden, and Darek Oles, and received his Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance in 2008.  Other influences and mentors are Larry Koonse, Joe LaBarbara, Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, David Roitstein and Alfred Ladzekpo.

David has performed with Bennie Maupin, Patrice Rushen, Bob Mintzer, Chuck Manning, Gary Foster, Gary Fukushima, Kendall Kay, Matt Otto, Nate Wood (of Kneebody), Lorca Hart, Bobby Watson (of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers), Mike Barone (Composer for The Tonight Show Band), Butch Morris, William Winant, Smith Dobson, Vinny Golia, Larry Koonse, and Joe LaBarbara.  David has played some of the top jazz venues in Los Angeles, including The Blue Whale, The Jazz Bakery, Catalina’s, Vibrato, The Mint, Charlie O’s, Vitellos, and REDCAT and LACMA.  He also has extensive studio experience recording on many albums is some of LA’s best studios including Capitol Records, The Firehouse Studio, Killzone Studio, TV Tray Studios, The Hobbyshop, and Catasonic Studios.

He is also a regular member of many bands including Slumgum, the steam-punk cabaret experiment Timur and the Dime Museum,  Frank Silva’s Frack, Adam Bravo’s Oven Fresh, the bluegrass band American Primitive, the Bluegrass-Noise band Tears of the Moose Chaser, Tony Diggenarro‘s solo projects, Dave Cipriani’s world-music blend Mahadev, the Mike Barone Big Band, the Jon Armstrong Big Band, and the Trevor Anderies Group.

David enjoys exploring new territories and sonic possibilities on the bass, and doesn’t like to be pigeonholed into one style of music.  The one common thread in all the projects that he is involved in is that they are all unique, offering something new and original to the musical community.

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6
Album Review

Joe Santa Maria: Oblique Rhyme

Read "Oblique Rhyme" reviewed by Jack Kenny


The perennial challenge of balancing individual expression with collective harmony is masterfully addressed by Joe Santa Maria (saxophones), David Tranchina (bass), Gary Fukushima (piano), and Colin Woodford (drums). Their collaboration weaves contemporary jazz with blues and avant-garde elements, crafting an eclectic sound that showcases the quartet's versatility and chemistry. Fukushima's style is strikingly individualistic, marked by an idiosyncratic flair. He fills every open space with stimulating, unpredictable phrases, sidestepping clichés with a nod to jazz's rich history. While ...

4
Album Review

Joe Santa Maria & David Tranchina: Oblique Rhyme

Read "Oblique Rhyme" reviewed by Fran Kursztejn


The integral development of post-'70s jazz has nothing to do with instruments, playstyle or compositional ethos. After bop's heyday slowly petered out, its practitioners either holding strong to the tradition or scattering to other genres in the public's favor, the necessity of a studio-produced, hierarchical set seemed to disappear with it. Granted, the bandleader model maintains its popularity today, yet more and more, independent and revolutionary musicians turn toward a more anarchical understanding of the jazz group, prizing polyphony and ...

Album Review

Joe Santa Maria: Echo Deep

Read "Echo Deep" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Un solido jazz per middle band (peraltro di tiro spesso molto big), con infiltrazioni easy, è quanto ci arriva da questo album, molto compatto e sostanzialmente corale, del polistrumentista e compositore texano Joe Santa Maria, che ha diviso la sua attività musicale, ormai piuttosto corposa, fra Houston, Boston, New York e Los Angeles. Nella musica che si ascolta in questa quarantina scarsa di minuti, come accennato, prevale largamente la mano dell'autore rispetto a quello che potrebbe essere ...

23
Album Review

Joe Santa Maria: Echo Deep

Read "Echo Deep" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


In the liner notes, L.A.-based multi-woodwind specialist Joe Santa Maria, known for his contributions to Vinnie Golia ensembles, Django Django, and Kim Richmond and others, reveals that this project took nearly a decade to complete, shaped by his extensive travels and dedicated studies. Notably, he emphasizes the cyclical, trance-like essence embedded within these compositions. The prolonged wait proves worthwhile as Santa Maria's fusion of worldly influences, rooted in his jazz expertise, culminates in an outstanding album poised to grace numerous ...

1
Album Review

Cathlene Pineda: Rainbow Baby

Read "Rainbow Baby" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Cathlene Pineda has a classical background which is reflected in the lyrical music her quartet creates on this disc. Her compositions here came out of a four-year period during which she became a mother for the first time, suffered two miscarriages and finally gave birth to a second child. The resulting work has a calm, introspective charm. The gentle flow of Pineda's piano mixes well with Kris Tiner's expressive trumpet playing on pieces such as the lyrical ...

5
Album Review

Cathlene Pineda: Rainbow Baby

Read "Rainbow Baby" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Charlie Parker said: “If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." In Cathlene Pineda's case, it could be said: “If you don't live it, it won't come out of your piano, or your compositional pen." Motherhood is a big part of what Pineda has lived, an equilibrium of emotion on the spectrum of sorrow and joy resulting--over a four year period--from two devastating miscarriages and two joyous births. Now, she celebrates that experience in ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Oblique Rhyme

Orenda Records
2025

buy

Echo Deep

Orenda Records
2023

buy

Rainbow Baby

Orenda Records
2020

buy

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