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Alexi David

Hola, and welcome to my website.

My name is Alexi David, and I'm a Composer/Double Bassist/Human. It's been and continues to be, an interesting journey. So here goes...

I was born in Cyprus, and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, before the evil stroller Yuppies descended. I got an electric bass when I was ten. The school girls noticed me. So I continued playing. Often they still notice. I had a stunted growth as a young musician due to an interim career as a drug addict, mostly due to undiagnosed "Attention-Deficit Disorder." After spending 2 years in rehab at Ayia Skepi in Cyprus, I resumed playing Double Bass (after a hiatus of years) and began performing around the island, debuting my mixture of Jazz and Rembetika music.

I moved back to NYC in August 2005, at the age of 28. I became a full-time college student at The New School, which gave me structure to get my life together. I started learning tunes and meeting musicians. While in school, I did a semester of internship at The Door, a youth center in SoHo for mostly minority teenagers - showing them music as a way out of the harsh inner-city troubles. In school I met most of my most influential teachers and mentors, amongst them: Kirk Nurock, Bill Kirchner, Robert Sadin, Hal Galper, Joe Chambers, Cecil Bridgewater, Henry Grimes and especially Junior Mance.

As a freelance bassist in NYC, my employers past and present have included Nellie McKay (many tours, radio performances, etc.) Terry Waldo's Gotham City Band, the Fat Cat Big Band, Jose James (many Brownswood Recordings and two European tours), Tom Abbott's Big Bang Big Band, and my mentor Junior Mance. I like playing most any "style" of Jazz - from Dixieland to Free/New Thing. I can also be heard playing anything from Heavy Metal Electric Bass to acoustic Greek Rembetiko Bouzouki. I also newly sing and do some acting when working with Nellie McKay! (including on NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion" at Town Hall, NYC December 2011.) I play many other instruments, but mainly perform only the ones I've mentioned. I perform anywhere from private events, to clubs, to Lincoln Center.

My signature group is "Alexi David's PATRIOT ACT", which fuses Greek Rembetika music with Jazz - in contrasting song , or often in the same song - many being of my own composition. I also play Greek Bouzouki in this configuration. In May 2009 we performed at the Cyprus consulate in NYC in conjunction with Cypriot artists Nikos Kouroussis and Lia Lapithi. The band played once a month at Fat Cat in NYC for some years, and will resume once I finish some other projects. The group's first tour was in Cyprus in June 2011, culminating in a performance at the Aglantzia Jazz Festival, and a studio recording.

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Take Five With Alexi David

Read "Take Five With Alexi David" reviewed by Alexi David


Meet Alexi David:Cypriot-American composer and bassist Alexi David grew up in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. His group, Alexi David's Patriot Act, has created the first fusion with jazz and the Greek sounds of rembetika. David is also adept on bouzouki, baglama and piano. He is a scholar on the music of the late Charles Mingus, and has worked extensively with Terry Waldo, Jose James, The Fat Cat Big Band, Junior Mance and many others. Being Nellie McKay's regular ...

494
Take Five With...

Take Five With Alexi David

Read "Take Five With Alexi David" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Meet Alexi David: My name is Alexi David, and I'm a composer/double-bassist/human.

I was born in Cyprus, and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, before the evil strollers descended.

I had a stunted growth as a young musician because I was (am?) a drug addict. I'm much better now, but still continue to fight.

After rehab in Cyprus, I resumed playing Double Bass (after a hiatus of years), and I moved back to NYC in August 2005. I became a full-time ...

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Superb.....Brilliant

-THE CYPRUS MAIL

Alexi is one of the most serious musicians I've met in the last decade. He pulls no punches, his compassion for people and music inspires me. I like his uncompromising spirit and the soul he plays with. Oh yea, Alexi has something special and you can hear life in his music. You can hear the city streets world wide, along with the stink of the subways and the stink of the human race. He transcends all that ! His song is universal and never ending. He's one of my favorites. Can you tell? He'll be around for decades long after the self proclaimed genius types are gone and forgotten. Why? HE LOVES MUSIC AND HE CAN PLAY. Listen for him. Hire him and know he is one of the real ones.

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Primary Instrument

Bass

Credentials/Background

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