Dave Wilson is a saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer, a leading voice in the music community of Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. His music bridges avant-garde and experimental music with various groove-oriented styles from the worlds of jazz, R&B, electronic music, and more.
Dave grew up in the Chicago area before spending a decade in Los Angeles and several stints living in Skopje, North Macedonia. There, he released the album On the Face Place (2016) as part of the group CSPS Ensemble, which featured some of North Macedonia’s leading musicians performing Dave’s compositions.
Overlapping sounds of Middle Eastern maqam, the blues, and multiple modes of improvisation permeate the album In Passing (2017), a clarinet/bass clarinet and oud duo album Dave created with oud player Gabe Lavin.
His 2019 album, duo project SLANT with pianist Richard Valitutto and released on pfMENTUM, is a set of short-form structured improvisations that venture through a number of the limitations and potentialities of the tenor saxophone and the piano.
Dave’s music is about people intimately connecting with one another and with the world around them. His projects are all grounded in his conviction that musical interaction and listening built on trust, respect, gratitude, and generosity can infuse our communities with those same qualities.
