Article 3 - GoldenEar Technology

Sandy's Place - My Friend David Chesky: Renaissance Man

The classic Renaissance Man is Leonardo DaVinci. Artist, paintings, drawings, scientist, inventor, architect and the list goes on and on. I believe the term was coined to describe men like Leonardo who emerged during the Renaissance and excelled in a multitude of creative activities. When I think of the term, I think of my friend David Chesky, who is my idea of a modern example of this rare breed.

I first met David back in the 80s, when he and his brother Norman started Chesky Records. I believe that initially, they were doing ultra high quality re-release re-pressings of classical recordings. Then they began to do their own recordings, building a rather huge catalog of superbly recorded and mastered pop, jazz and eclectic recordings, many of which, like his first Ana Caram recording, have become staples of my demo repertoire. Of course Chesky Records made the transition to CDs and now have made a dramatic expansion, as HD Tracks, into high res downloads of a wide variety of many companies popular recordings covering all genres.

But David is a lot more than a successful businessman. He writes children's books, conducts orchestras, and is an accomplished composer in many fields. Several years ago, I sat next to John Atkinson, in the balcony of a small church in Chelsea, listening to the debut of David's symphony. It was fantastic and I remember remarking to Patricia, David's wife, that it reminded me of Stravinsky, one of my favorite composers. Then, several years later, I sat in a small theater in Noho, attending the debut of David's children's comic opera.

However, to me, David's greatest musical achievement falls into my favorite musical genre: jazz. David has written some extraordinary new jazz compositions that he calls, "Jazz in the New Harmonic", and has assembled a first rate group, both for the recordings as well as for live gigs. The first recording came out about a year ago and has won numerous honors including Downbeat Editors' Pick of the Month and Stereophile Recording of the month.

David and his group had their first gig in the fall at Dizzy's Place, which I attended, and they were great! In March, David, joined by Javon Jackson on tenor sax, Tim Hagans on trumpet, Peter Washington on bass and Billy Drummond on drums, gigged at the Iridium for two nights. I attended both nights, of course, to groove with this masterful group. Basically, David's compositions lay down a hypnotic, modal bass line which lets David soar on piano pounding out 21st century classical melodies counterpointed with the rhythm of NY, along with the other superb musicians doing their thing. Put simply, the music of the spheres. I can't wait to hear where he goes next!