David Janeway Musician - All About Jazz

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.

Peter Hand: Blue Topaz

Read "Blue Topaz" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 24, 2024

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 ...

Album Review

David Janeway: Interchange

Read "Interchange" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 7, 2023

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 ...

Album Review

David Janeway: Distant Voices

Read "Distant Voices" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 16, 2021

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 ...

Album Review

David Janeway: Hastings Jazz Collective/Shadow Dances

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

by Dan McClenaghan
May 21, 2019

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 ...

Album Review

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

Read "Secret Passages" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 11, 2017

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 ...

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Album Review

David Janeway Trio: Excursion

Read "Excursion" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone

by Michael P. Gladstone
September 3, 2007

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 ...

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

2021 Reviews of Distant Voices CD:

“Fans of piano trio music will certainly rejoice in the release of pianist David Janeway’s, Distant Voices, an album that unites him with Cameron Brown (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) who lay in concise, expressive solos on tunes like Gary Peacock’s “Gardenia” and Walter Bishop’s “Waltz For Zweetie.” Janeway has released trio projects in the past, and Janeway’s own recognizable style stems from a synthesis of important elements of many great players like Bud Powell, Hank Jones and Bill Evans. Showing great versatility, Janeway plays swinging pop lines on his original “One For Cedar,” before displaying delicate touch and harmonic subtlety with his Fender Rhodes on Freddie Hubbard’s beautiful ballad, “Brigitte.” Fine melodic conversations between the three musicians uplift tunes like Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti” and Woody Shaw’s “Moontrane.”

For a study in Janeway’s impressive mastery of chording and ability to provide an impressive and influential interpretation of a classic, check out his lively cover of Hank Jones’ “Minor Contention.” Besides complex rhythmic interplay throughout, the trio also demonstrates some playfulness, particularly on Janeway’s other self-penned tracks, “Excursion”, “In Passing” and “Movin On.” Their intuition borders on telepathy on numbers like Mercer Ellington’s “Blue Serge.” Refined over the course of long successful careers, the musicality of Janeway, Brown and Hart gives us a deeply fulfilling experience on Distant Voices.

Joe Ross, Roots Music Report. Four Stars

“… And while the trio illuminates the covers, Janeway’s compositions sound like classics… A compelling and polished product.”

Dan McClenaghan; All About Jazz, 10/21

“For jazz fans not residing near New York City, there will always be musicians who have been active locally for decades yet fly under the radar due to limited touring. One such player is pianist David Janeway, a professional for over four decades though, like Denny Zeitlin, also a full-time psychiatrist. In addition to forming the Hastings Jazz Collective with Harvie S, Tim Armacost and others, Janeway has recorded a number of CDs for his own label, so that may explain why this CD is on SteepleChase LookOut, a sub-label normally for up-and-coming artists. He recruited two seasoned veterans for the session, bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Billy Hart, with whom he has performed over the years, and the setlist has a wealth of treasures, including rarely recorded jazz works, jazz standards and the pianist’s strong originals. Hank Jones’ demanding bop theme “Minor Contention” showcases the potent interplay of the trio and the pianist’s formidable chops. Mercer Ellington’s “Blue Serge” dates from the ‘40s and although his famous father performed it, the piece fell into unjust obscurity. Janeway’s bittersweet introduction gives way to an upbeat, lyrical setting that simmers rather than catches fire, with a creative bassline and skilled brushwork adding valuable seasoning to the leader’s eloquent solo. Gary Peacock’s “Gardenia” is a natural fit for Brown’s inventive soloing, as he is also a master worthy of comparison to the late composer. Brown sets the mood for Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti” with an exotic solo before Janeway makes a surprising shift to electric piano and the trio offers a delicate, moving setting of Walter Bishop, Jr.’s “Waltz For Zweetie”. Janeway’s compositions include the bouncing “One For Cedar” and constantly shifting “Excursion”, both of which sound like jazz standards in the hands of this trio.”

Ken Dryden; NYC Jazz Record, 11/21.

“… Just put this right up there with your favorite jazz piano trio dates and let the good times roll. Dazzling stuff, so subtle and yet so massive.”

Chris Spector; Midwest Records, 11/21.

“Pianist/composer David Janeway is one fine Jazz pianist! He was trained in classical piano and moved into R&B and jazz with facility, having performed with such greats as The Supremes while also performing solo and with highly regarded ensembles.
In this refreshing recording Janeway performs in a trio setting, giving new light and luster to old favorites as well as some of his own compositions.
The ensemble - David Janeway - piano, Fender Rhodes, Cameron Brown – bass, and
Billy Hart – drums.
Sophisticated and inventive, this is a fine, refined jazz album, destined for awards!

Grady Harp; Amazon Five Stars, Top 100 Reviewer

“This may be Mr. Janeway’s date to lead, but the manner in which Mr. Brown and Mr. Hart intertwine with the pianist’s music , each of the three musicians seem perfectly attuned to the other’s vision and artistry. The word “breathtaking” doesn’t even begin to describe this musical encounter.”

Raul Da Gama/JazzdaGama, 11/21.

“The foundation of modern jazz, the piano trio, is well served on this recent release. ..David Janeway shows a wide swath of talent and accessible bop styles as he plays both piano and keyboards in hip trio fashion with the adroit support of bassist Cameron Brown and the legendary drummer Billy Hart. “

George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

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