Home » Jazz Musicians » David Ambrosio

David Ambrosio

David Ambrosio is one of New York City’s finest freelance musicians and educators for the past 20 years. He is the co-leader of two collaborative bands, Grupo Los Santos and 40Twenty, as well as being a part of many groups including George Schuller’s Circle Wide, the Matt Renzi Trio, Eri Yamamoto Trio and the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra led by Jim McNeely. He has also performed with such jazz greats as pianist Kenny Werner, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, George Garzone, Joseph Jarmon and Ralph Alessi. David recently released his second recording as leader entitled “MOMENTS IN TIME“ available on the SteepleChase Label. With degrees in Classical composition and Jazz performance, David has a broad musical palate that has become intensified by some unique travel experiences. In 2001 he had the opportunity to perform in Cuba with Grupo Los Santos, Max Pollack’s Rumbatap and local Afro/Cuban folkloric music and dance ensembles. Soon after that he began what has become an 12-year period of intense study of Afro/Cuban Bata drumming with master drummers Miguel Bernal, Carlos Gomez and Carlos Aldama. He has frequently toured in Central and South East Asia on behalf of the US State Department as a performer and clinician. David is currently on faculty of both the New York Jazz Academy and the Queens College Center for Preparatory Studies in Music.

"Ambrosio has sensitivity to dynamic concerns and an ability to react instantly"- Chris Kelsey, Jazz Times

Tags

1
In Pictures

David Ambrosio's Civil Disobedience at The Roads Bistro

Read "David Ambrosio's Civil Disobedience at The Roads Bistro" reviewed by Mark Robbins


The Roads Bistro--a new restaurant / listening room--has recently opened in Virginia Beach, VA. Located in a strip mall across the street from the Tidewater Community College, one would be surprised to learn it's the current home of some of the best food and best jazz in the area. Owner, Michael Baldwin, has defied the odds and fulfilled his dream of opening a club. Music is performed nightly with Tuesday reserved for a jazz jam but other nights can also ...

7
Interview

David Ambrosio's Civil Disobedience: 50 Years in the Making

Read "David Ambrosio's Civil Disobedience: 50 Years in the Making" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Modern jazz has never been more prolific. Nonsense you say? With most recording and touring jazz musicians coming out of institutions of higher learning these days, jazz listeners can encounter top line players in virtually any major city in the United States. What's happening in New York is happening in Seattle, Denver, Detroit or Cleveland in scenes that vary in size but are nonetheless there. With the newest wave comes in-depth compositional skills, the likes of which have never been ...

11
Album Review

Eri Yamamoto Trio: A Woman With A Purple Wig

Read "A Woman With A Purple Wig" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Eri Yamamoto was born and raised in Japan. but she has been a resident of New York City for over twenty years. She was there in March 2020 when COVID-19 shut down the world and then-President Trump began to call the disease a “Chinese flu." One day, while waiting to start an outdoor concert, she was confronted by a stranger who knocked off her hat, stepped on the electric keyboard she was carrying and called her one of the ...

Album Review

Eri Yamamoto, Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite

Read "Goshu Ondo Suite" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


La pianista e compositrice Eri Yamamoto, quarantotto anni all'epoca dell'incisione in oggetto (novembre 2018), equamente divisi fra il nativo Giappone (Osaka) e l'adottiva New York, persegue in questo ambizioso lavoro un'ideale compenetrazione fra universo jazzistico, classico e popolare. Non si tratta di un'operazione particolarmente nuova (in più di un frangente il tono ricorda per esempio lo storico It's Time di Max Roach, anno di grazia 1962), ma ciò che conta sono sempre i risultati, che nello specifico sono senz'altro apprezzabili. ...

3
Album Review

Matty Stecks & Persiflage: Night Cravings

Read "Night Cravings" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Like sneaking into the boy's room for a smoke, bassist Dave Ambrosio intros both Night Cravings, the concept and title track, with a sinister ease, sparking a slow burning fuse that once lit, ain't going out until all in attendance damn well reach accord. Or don't. Either/or, it's a spilling energy not unlike the frisson encounters of Keith Jarrett's storied, 70's American and European quartets. That alone makes Night Cravings well worth your investment. New York is not ...

33
Album Review

Eri Yamamoto Trio & Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite

Read "Goshu Ondo Suite" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Modern jazz combined with choral vocals has not been in vogue during the genre's varied history. Some notable recordings such as drummer Max Roach's It's Time (Impulse, 1962) and trumpeter Donald Byrd's melding of jazz with spiritual vocals on A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1964) were prolific outings of this ilk. And on Byrd's album, the piece titled “Cristo Redentor" received a fair amount of jazz radio play for decades. But New York-based pianist Eri Yamamoto's new venture, featuring a ...

40
Album Review

David Ambrosio: Four On The Road

Read "Four On The Road" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Bassist David Ambrosio and his trio indulge in smooth sailing, partly due to alto saxophonist Loren Stillman's feathery tones via these largely, medium-tempo bop works, complete with contrapuntal type exchanges and spry breakouts. Several of these piece seem to intertwine within a similar framework and cadence, although there are a few free-form sorties, sparked by Ambrosio and drummer Russ Meisner's asymetrical patterns and staggered flows. On the flip side, the the rhythm section consistently lays out a pronounced, ...

Read more articles
"Ambrosio possesses an unerring sense of groove that's similar to Holland's (Dave)..." - John Kelman, All About Jazz "Dave Ambrosio is a wealth of musical inventiveness in both technique and note selection" - Chris Imrie, The Guelph Mercury "Ambrosio has sensitivity to dynamic concerns and an ability to react instantly" - Chris Kelsey, Jazz Times "Ambrosio stretches and bends like a rubber man".... - Rex Butters, All About Jazz (Chicago) "This bassist is a powerful melodist who refuses to reside in the back of an ensemble by the sheer strength of his full-frontal polyrhythmic attack" - Raul Da Gama, Latin Jazz Network "Bassist David Ambrosio once again demonstrates his keen melodic sensibility and propensity for surefooted commentary" - John Sharpe, New York City Jazz Record

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Grupo los Santos:...

Santos Music
2023

buy

A Woman With A Purple...

Mahakala Music
2022

buy

Night Cravings

Self Produced
2021

buy

Goshu Ondo Suite

AUM Fidelity
2019

buy

Four On The Road

Fresh Sound Records
2018

buy

Moments In Time

Steeplechase Lookout
2016

buy

Let It Go

From: GONE
By David Ambrosio

Future Homage

From: Clave Heart
By David Ambrosio

Entre Dongan Y Adren

From: Clave Heart
By David Ambrosio

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.