Biography
Born in Middletown, Ohio, Dave grew a fondness for jazz after meeting Herb Jeffries at a young age. Dave studied music until 1960 at the University of Hawaii before transferring to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 1961. He first worked around Boston and then settled in on the Lower East Side in New York City in 1965 after graduating with a degree in musical composition. During his years there, he started a band called the Untraditional Jazz Improvisational Team with saxophonist Byard Lancaster, bassist Sirone, and drummer Bobby Kapp. In 1965 he joined the groups of saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, 'Tauhid', Marion Brown 'Juba-Lee', 'Three for Shepp' and Archie Shepp, resulting in numerous recordings, among them 'For Losers', Kwanza', 'Live at the Pan-African Festival','Yasmina',Blase', 'Black Gypsy', 'Things Have Got To Change', 'Attica Blues', 'The Cry of My People', 'There Is A Trumpet in My Soul', 'Montreaux One,', 'Montreaux Two'. ' '
In 1968, Burrell helped co-found another band, The 360 Degree Music Experience, with Grachan Moncur and drummer Beaver Harris. They eventually released 'From Ragtime to No Time', in 1975, and In: Sanity, in 1977. Dave Burrell's first recordings as leader, 'High' and 'High Two', produced by Alan Douglas in 1968 were re-issued on Arista/Freedom 'High Won High Two in 1976. Dave Burrell's 'Echo' and 'La Vie de Boheme' were recorded for BYG in Paris in 1969.In 1977 Dave Burrell did 3 recordings for Nippon Columbia, 'Teardrops for Jimmy', Round Midnight', and Lush Life'. In 1978 he composed a jazz opera, entitled Windward Passages in collaboration with Swedish-born poet/lyricist Monika Larsson. An album, WINDWARD PASSAGES (hatHut Records, Switzerland) based on the opera was released in 1979. In 1988 Dave Burrell joined tenor saxophonist David Murray. Their extensive touring and recodong collaborations resulted in duo recordings, Dave Burrell's 'Daybreak' 1989, 'Brother to Brother' 1992, Gazell Records,'In Concert' Victo 1992, snd 'Windward Passages', Black Saint 1993. Dave appears on David Murray's DIW recordings 'Lovers', 'Deep River', 'Ballads', 'Spirituals, 'Tenors', 'Remembrances', and 'Picasso recorded between 1988- 1993.
Still touring, Burrell performs as a soloist and as a leader of a duo, trio and larger ensembles. Burrell recorded for the High Two label from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His 2004 album Expansion (with bassist William Parker and drummer Andrew Cyrille) was acclaimed by NPR, Down Beat, Village Voice, JazzTimes, The Wire, and others. Splasch Records in Italy released a studio solo piano recording, 'Margy Pargy' in 2005. In 2006, Burrell released Consequences (Amulet Records), a dynamic live duet set with drummer Billy Martin and Momentum, featuring bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Guillermo E. Brown. RAI Trade, Italy did a live recording of some of Dave Burrell and lyricist Monika Larsson's collaborations, 'Dave Burrell Plays His Songs' featuring singer Leena Conquest that was released in 2010.
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