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Born in San Francisco in 1967, David grew up in Santa Cruz, California. David picked up the saxophone at the age of 8 years old and attended Berklee College of music on full scholarship, where he studied with George Garzone, Joseph Viola, Herb Pomeroy, Hal Crook and Jimmy Mosher. After Boston Valdez spent time living in San Franscisco, Santa Cruz, Arcata, Santa Fe and New York City before settling in Portland, Oregon in 2000. In the summer of 2016 relocated to Tuscon, Arizona to escape the clouds and bad Mexican food.
David Valdez is an internationally recognized artist who has performed/recorded with:
Dave Holland, Clark Terry, Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Bob Mintzer, Lewis Nash, George Colligan, Matt Wilson, Larry Grenadier, Eddie Marshal, John Medeski, Jeff Ballard, Larry Scheider, Bill Berry, Dred Scott, Charlie Hunter, Liberty Ellman, Mark Levine, Scott Amendola, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Dave Fuiczynski, Josh Roseman, Ben Monder, Matt Otto, Art Lillard, Bob Mover, Donny McCaslin, Ari Hoenig, Doug Webb, Peter Apfelbaum, Ben Allison, Nancy King, David Friesen, Gary Smulyan’s Saxophone Mosaic, Glen Moore, Dave Frishberg, Alphabet Soup, The Drifters, The Four Tops, Ken Schaphorst Big Band, The Bloomdaddies, Jim Black, Mick Goodrick, Either Orchestra, Chuck Isreals Orchestra, Dmitri Matheny, John Stowell, Rebecca Coup Franks, Jeff Baker, Hristo Vitchev, Harvey Wainapel, Essiet Essiet, Sylvia Cuenca, Bob Reynolds, Ronnie Burrage, Sasha Dobson, Jaclyn Guillou, Rebecca Parris, Kitty Margolis, Rick Margitza, Avishai Cohen, Reid Anderson, Gilad Hekselman, Howard Johnson, Bill Watrous, Joel Frahm, Sara Garzek, Toshiko Akioshi, Lew Tabakin, Mudell Lowe, Avishai Cohen, Ted Nash, Jorge Rossi, Pere Soto, Weber Iago, Kenny Brooks, Jesse Murphy, Smith Dobson, Paul Anka, Bert Wilson, Paul Bollenbeck, Kristof Bacso, Eddie Henderson, and Kerry Politzer,
Festival and concert appearances:Monterey Jazz festival, North Sea Jazz festival, Telluride Jazz festival, 1986 World Expo at Tskuba, Boston Globe Jazz festival, Tanglewood Music festival, Yamano Jazz festival, Bradford Jazz festival , San Jose Jazz festival, Santa Fe Jazz festival, Jazz under the Stars, Be-Bop and Brew, Cathedral Park Jazz festival, Jazz at Newport Festival, PDX Jazz Festival
Clubs performed at include:
The Knitting Factory, Smalls, Blue Note, Cleopatra’s Needle, Savoy Lounge, Birdland, The Up and Down, Pearl’s,Yoshi’s, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Ryles, Tritone, Nardis (Istanbul), U Maleho Glena Jazz Club (Prague), Jazz Dock (Prague), Blue Whale, Vibrato, The Lighthouse, Del Luna (Barcelona), Jamboree (Barcelona), Jimmy Mak's (PDX), Ivories Jazz Lounge (PDX)
Press:
"Since moving to town from New York City, David Valdez has shown himself to be a rigorously adaptable player and a jazz gent who can make things happen. With his broad shouldered alto tone he builds his solos architecturally like very few players in town. His Latin Quartet explores some rhythmically challenging turf and may be one of the tightest new additions on our jazz bulletin board.''-Bill Smith, Willamette Week
“Alto saxophonist David "Carlos" Valdez is a full-throttle player with a rich knowledge of both bebop and latin jazz. You can hear in the warmth of his tone and the urgency of his wail, time-well spent in the jazz salt mines of NYC, the Bay Area, and beyond.”- Tim DuRoche, Strong Week
“Alto saxophonist David Valdez is one of the blazing lights of PDX's vastly underrated Latin music scene. Having worked with players both young (Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Charlie Hunter, John Medeski) and older (Clark Terry, Dave Holland, Slide Hampton, Pharoah Saunders, Mal Waldron, Bob Moses), he's equally at home in bop, blues, and utter free blowing and muscles subtly into tunes with a Sonny Criss energy.-Tim DuRoche, Oregonian
"Valdez moved to Portland from New York in 2000 with a Berklee College of Music background and the ability to blow hard or tenderly with a mature sound and supreme confidence."- Lynn Doroche, Jazz Scene Magazine
“David's playing and approach is so methodical yet simultaneously mystical that it is an encompassing experience to hear him.”- Jason Dumars, saxophone.com
Links:
Casa Valdez Studios Jazz Blog
Jazz Scene Magazine interview
