MA, Composition (York University, Toronto, Ontario)
Instructor, Piano, Keyboard Labs, Arranging
David Restivo is an award-winning pianist and composer. Born in Lansing, Michigan, moulded by the mountains and coasts of New England, and based primarily in Toronto, Canada since 1982, he has been a sought-after and influential figure in Canada’s jazz community since the late 1980s.
Well-known for his work with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, the Mike Murley Quintet and legendary songwriter Marc Jordan, David has performed and recorded with such renowned artists as Dave Holland, Curtis Fuller, Mel Tormé, Kenny Wheeler, Jon Hendricks and David Clayton-Thomas. A dedicated music educator for over 20 years, he currently serves on the music faculty at the University of Toronto. His own teachers have included Muhal Richard Abrams, Jim McNeely and Kenny Werner.
Immersed in the arts from birth, a chance discovery of a Dizzy Gillespie recording at an early age led him to eventually focus on jazz and improvised music, though he derives inspiration from a wide range of musical and non-musical sources, including John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Joni Mitchell, Genesis, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Gustav Mahler, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Marc Chagall and JS Bach.