THE JAZZ SIDE OF THINGS…

The David Wheatley Band

Jazz musician and band leader, David Wheatley, has been improvising on piano since he was a teenager at John F Ross CVI High School in Guelph, Ontario Canada. Upon moving to Toronto, he played with the Glenn Sarty Big Band which rehearsed at the CBC Studios. He also played with the Greg Waters rehearsal band. His own jazz combo rehearsed on Monday nights in the recreation room at Margaret Addison Hall at the University of Toronto. After one year of attending Victoria College, a part of the University, he headed south to the University of North Texas (formerly North Texas State University). He played piano in the renowned lab band program while at the same time studying jazz piano with Jim Milne. While there, he also wrote arrangements for the lab bands. Upon graduating from North Texas, he traveled west to Los Angeles and enrolled at USC playing piano in the jazz band and writing compositions for the band. David played in the USC Jazz Ensemble at a special event under jazz great, Gerald Wilson at Bovard Auditorium. Separately, he has recorded with vibraphonist Milt Jackson and bassist Ray Brown. After starting his own record company, Freshwater Records, he composed, played on and produced an album of contemporary jazz music featuring well known Los Angeles session musicians Gary Herbig, Dennis Belfield, William Lenihan and Mike Miller among others. In October 2022, David traveled back to the University of North Texas for a jazz department reunion and performed in an alumni lab band concert with Lou Marini (Blood, Sweat and Tears, Blues Brothers), guitarist Jack Peterson and bandleader Mark Taylor. The David Wheatley Band was featured at the 2023 First Annual Jazz Festival sponsored by the Music Performance Trust Fund and Local 47 AFM which was held at the Burbank, California location. The band in 2023 included Phillip Whack on alto sax, Ron Stout on trumpet, bassist Larry Steen and drummer Dave Hunt, with Wheatley on piano and carrying out the emcee duties. The David Wheatley Band also performed at Jazz in July 2024; an annual outdoors live music event presented by First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills, California. The band included Randall Willis on alto sax, Jeff Kaye on trumpet, Adrian Rosen on electric bass and Dave Hunt on drums with Wheatley on keyboards.