David Janeway

David Janeway

Musicians | Instrument: Piano | Location: New York City

The foundation of modern jazz, the piano trio, is well served on his recent release. David Janeway shows a wide swath of talent and accessible bop styles.

—George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

Updated: November 18, 2023

Born: June 4

DAVID JANEWAY was born in Rochester, New York. He began studying classical piano at the age of six after moving to Detroit in 1960. Early influences included Harold McKinney, Marcus Belgrave, Bill Evans and Denny Zeitlin. After moving to New York City in 1978, Janeway studied with the late Albert Dailey for two years.

During this time he worked and recorded with Angel Canales and Orchestra Sabor and other Latin/Jazz artists such as Art Farmer, The Supremes, Michal Urbaniak, Spanky Wilson, David "Fathead" Newman, Jr. Cook, Sonny Fortune, Billy Hart, Tom Harrell, Danny Gottlieb, Louis Smith, Dakota Staton, Valery Ponomarev, Benny Golson, Harvie S and others. 

He has performed at Mezzrow, Smalls, Jazz Forum, Zanzibar, Visiones, Zinc Bar, Deer Head Inn, Sonny's, Village Gate for the Salsa Meets Jazz series, J's, Sweet Basil, Sweet Rhythm, Cleopatra's Needle and other NYC clubs. Janeway performed at the NYC Salsa Festival at Madison Square Garden in 1980,  the Detroit Jazz Festival along with other festivals and clubs throughout the US and Europe.

Janeway has recorded three trio albums. His first, “Excursion,” released in 2004 features Harvie S and Steve Davis and is comprised of both standards and originals. His second trio CD, “Secret Passages,” features Frank Tate on bass and can be heard on the Music page.

Janeway created the Hastings Jazz Collective in 2008. Made up of friends/veteran NYC jazz musicians, Tim Armacost, Jay Azzolina, Harvie S and Ron Vincent, this working band is a composer’s workshop that represents the cutting edge of contemporary mainstream and latin/jazz. Their newly released CD, “Shadow Dances” (2019, New Direction Music), is available through Amazon, iTunes, CD Baby and youtube.

For the past several years Janeway can be heard with his current piano trio featuring Billy Hart and Cameron Brown and as a sideman with various artists. This trio released their first CD, “Distant Voices” on Steeplechase Records (SCCD 33145) 9/15/21. This third trio recording is a tribute to the many jazz pianists that have inspired and influenced Janeway throughout his career.

As well Janeway is a member of “Soartet”; a working collective created in 2020 with Eliot Zigmund, drums, Rick Savage, trumpet and David Kingsnorth, bass. Soartet.com. This band continues to perform at major venues in the greater NYC region including appearances at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC, Maureen’s Jazz Cellar in Nyack, NY and the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, NY.


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All About Jazz Articles

14
Album Review

Peter Hand: Blue Topaz

Read "Blue Topaz" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Peter Hand has a hand in almost everything on Blue Topaz, playing masterful guitar, writing seven of the album's ten engaging numbers and arranging all of them. He also spliced together a pair of blue-chip ensembles for his first small-group recording after three well-received big-band albums, and invited his longtime friend--and legendary tenor saxophonist--Houston Person to sit in on two tracks. Person had also guested on one of the guitarist's big-band recordings, Out of Hand (2014). Hand's ...

8
Album Review

David Janeway: Interchange

Read "Interchange" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Unearthing and releasing old music--even sounds sourced from decades old tapes--has become common in jazz. Pianist Bill Evans (thank you. Zev Feldman) has enjoyed something of a twenty-first-century renaissance. Pianist Fred Hersch released @ The Village Vanguard (Palmetto Records, 2018), recorded in 1997; and 2021 saw the posthumous release from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, Hanamichi (Red Hook), recorded in 2013. Pianist David Janeway has been on the scene since the late 70s; he offered up the marvelous Distant Voices ...

7
Album Review

David Janeway: Distant Voices

Read "Distant Voices" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


In 2017 pianist David Janeway offered his Secret Passages, a trio outing featuring bassist Frank Tate and drummer Chuck Zeuren. He proves, in 2021, that he can change partners without losing an ounce of swing or even a shot glass of verve. It is Cameron Brown on bass this time out, with Billy Hart sitting in the drum chair. Both are serious, elevate-the-music guys, while Janeway continues with his sprightly cerebralism and crystalline-touch way of making music. Distant ...

4
Album Review

David Janeway: Hastings Jazz Collective/Shadow Dances

Read "Hastings Jazz Collective/Shadow Dances" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Sail twenty miles up the Hudson River from New York City and you find Hastings-On-The-Hudson, a vibrant artists' colony situated on the river's shore. Among the town's artists you'll find jazz pianist David Janeway, a New York City transplant via Detroit, Michigan. The Hastings Jazz Collective is Janeway's brainchild. He presents the all-star group's debut with Shadow Dances. Though he claims the title “musical director" of this contemporary mainstream jazz quintet, he also stresses the “leaderless aspect" of the group's ...

2
Album Review

David Janeway Trio featuring Frank Tate and Chuck Zeuren: Secret Passages

Read "Secret Passages" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


New York City jazz pianist David Janeway and his trio sound as if they're trying to be a force for good in the universe. Secret Passages rides a relentless traditional momentum, rolling along with a positive vibe under the influence of a big push on the refresh button. Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell operated this way, with desinctively different styles. The bass and drum team--Frank Tate and Chuck Zeuren, respectively--walk a joyful line between supportive and interactive in ...

116
Album Review

David Janeway Trio: Excursion

Read "Excursion" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Pianist David Janeway, with only a handful of albums under his belt, bursts out of the pack with the exciting Excursion. He is accompanied by veteran bassist Harvie S. and drummer Steve Davis. Excursion also features a guest appearance from trumpeter Charles Moore, who provides an eerie and effective Miles Davis vibe on Janeway's ballad, “Another Chance."

These dozen tracks are comprised of half originals from the pianist and the remainder from the Great American Songbook and jazz ...

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Articles Across the Web

...or were mentioned in an All About Jazz article.

A skilled composer and pianist capable of creating music that is imaginative, sensitive, and often exciting." —David Franklin, Cadence "...welcome your ears to David Janeway. You'll enjoy this new recording talent." — Sid Gribetz, WKCR, Jazz Times "This is pleasant contemporary jazz that is easy to enjoy." —Michael Nastos, The Ann Arbor News

2021 Reviews of Distant Voices CD:

"This is an excellent recording, and the more you listen, the more compelling the music becomes. This could easily be one of the Top Ten Jazz CD's of 2021, and maybe one for the ages." -Michael Nastos, Hot House, WCBN, Ann Arbor, MI

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Contact

Management and booking

Contact David Janeway at [email protected] for bookings/management.

Links

Followers

All About Jazz user Mark Haskins All About Jazz user David Janeway All About Jazz user Craig Stimmel

Concerts

  Fri, Apr 5
Tarrytown, NY
David Janeway Quintet
Jazz Forum
Fri, Apr 5. 7:00 PM
  Fri, Apr 5
Tarrytown, NY
David Janeway Quintet
Jazz Forum
Fri, Apr 5. 9:30 PM
  Sat, Apr 6
Tarrytown, NY
David Janeway Quintet
Jazz Forum
Sat, Apr 6. 7:00 PM
  Sat, Apr 6
Tarrytown, NY
David Janeway Quintet
Jazz Forum
Sat, Apr 6. 9:30 PM
Apr5Fri
Apr5Fri
Apr6Sat
Apr6Sat

Music

https://soundcloud.com/davidjaneway

Hand-Me-Down Blues

From: Blue Topaz
By David Janeway