Dave Pietro

Dave Pietro, an alto saxophonist and composer, entered the world in Southboro, MA, and grew up there, taking up jazz at the age of 11. As a University of New Hampshire enrollee he cut tracks with the institution’s jazz ensemble under flugelhornist Clark Terry, then moved to North Texas State University in 1984, where he performed and recorded alongside the One O’Clock Lab Band while also working with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra and the Collection Jazz Orchestra. After completing his studies in 1987 he made New York City his base, later touring in support of Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, and Maynard Ferguson; beginning in 1994 he additionally held the lead alto chair in the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. The same year he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant, 1996, saw the release of his first album as a leader, Forgotten Dreams. Wind Dance arrived two years afterward, followed in 1999 by Now Becoming Then.