(Photo by Jeffrey Care)

I met David Restivo in 2013, a couple of months before I released Bedroom Voice. He was in Whitehorse with the Morgan Childs Quartet as part of Jazz Yukon’s “Jazz on the Wing” concert series. The quartet stayed in town for several days giving lessons and workshops. I got to work with David twice that week, first at a piano lesson and again when the quartet came and did a workshop with The BIG Band. (As I recall, I felt madly inadequate despite his kindness, so I made him play for as much of that rehearsal as I could get away with.)

David and I kept in touch indirectly through the Facebook village until last spring when I was contemplating living in Toronto for 10 weeks. I made plans to make the most of my time, including a recording session. I already had a sax trio arrangement in progress, and I knew that if I actually got a sax trio into a studio, I’d want to record more than one track. I chose the gorgeous Irving Berlin ballad “Always”, but I needed someone to make the arrangement for me.

At the time, I had only the vaguest idea of what the Toronto jazz community looks like. I knew David was teaching at the University of Toronto, so I thought he could make a recommendation on an arranger . . . not realizing that he is an arranger, himself! I was delighted with the opportunity to work with him again.

Not only did David create a beautiful arrangement for “Always”, but he also helped me jump right into the Toronto jazz community. My second night in town, he mentioned the Tuesday night jam at The Rex (which became one of my regular haunts). He also helped me book a show at the Jazz Bistro, advised me on recording studios, found amazing sax players for the recording session, assisted me when I frantically decided I had to change the key on other sax arrangement, and just generally was the perfect ambassador for Torontonian hospitality. He opened a lot of doors for me and I am deeply grateful for it.

But that’s not the end of the story! We were surprised to find out, a few short weeks before my return to the Yukon, that David was going to be in Whitehorse the day after I got back. He was asked to join The Cookers Quintet on their western Canadian tour, including a week of workshops in the Yukon. The timing was so perfect, we decided to do a duo show at the Old Fire Hall that week, too.

Here’s a clip from that evening, performing Lisa Lindo’s tune, “Drink Your Coffee While It’s Hot”.

By the way, David is also just about to release a new album of original music. It's called The Waves. I believe he has a website coming soon, but in the meantime, you can follow him on Facebook:
 www.facebook.com/DaveRestivoMusic