Thanks to an aversion to marching in his high school band, saxophonist David Choy is a top-flight jazz player.
COMPOSITE BY BRYANT FUKUTOMI /BFUKUTOMI@STARBULLETIN.COMWith a CD in the works,
David Choy brings his sax appeal
to Hawaii's annual jazz festivalBy Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com
Choy has also been with Abe Weinstein's festival as a dependable sideman since its inception eight years ago (the ninth one starts in two days with dates here and on Maui). But it took a move to Maui from Honolulu three months ago to embolden Choy to finish recording a CD that he hopes will be out sometime before the end of the year.
"I started off straight out of Castle High School," said Choy by phone from his Waiehu home yesterday, "doing convention work and playing in the pit orchestra for visiting musical theater shows. That stopped in 1989 when I started playing with Peter Moon, starting with the 'Chinatown' album.
"I owe Peter a lot because he let me do a lot of things in the studio, helping me grow as a musician."
Choy himself comes from good musical stock: His dad is an oboe and sax player, formerly with the Royal Hawaiian Band and the Honolulu Symphony and now with the cruise ship Star of Honolulu; his brother is a jazz trumpeter residing in Pittsburgh; and his mother, the only nonmusician, is the sister of Hawaii's Gabe Baltazar.
Choy worked on his chops and harmonic skills studiously during high school, away from the marching band, and became so proficient that halfway through his junior year, the band director invited him to play in the school's jazz band.
Even though he and his family moved to the Valley Isle, Choy still commutes quite a bit to Honolulu, having done a recent Kapono's Monday night jazz gig, and he'll be here for Thursday's "Hawaiian Jazz Night" to kick off the festival.
"At the risk of sounding unappreciative, and while thankful that local stars as Peter, Na Leo and Keali'i Reichel have given me the opportunities to play with them, the reason I left Honolulu is that for a major city that has an influx of Japanese tourists (they being the No. 1 consumers of music in the world), it has a lack of live-music venues. Here on Maui the mentality is different: The restaurants aren't afraid to present a jazz group as part of their dining experience. The musicians aren't taking a hit, like a third or a quarter less the money they get from a convention job. But something may build from a place like Kapono's, where the Monday night jazz fans are great."
Choy is just as much a producer as a musician nowadays; he's working with a band called Asian Blend and last year's Miss Hawaii, Denby Dung, who also plays the saxophone.
He's also looking forward to finishing his own CD, a home-recorded affair that includes sidemen friends of his that he's "cashing in favors" with, like Bruce Hamada, Glen Goto, Garin Poliahu and Fred Schreuders, who's played with Michael Paulo and Hiroshima.
But Choy is especially excited to be working with world-class songwriter and musician Michael Ruff, who moved from L.A. to Hanalei. "He used to be Chaka Khan's musical director for some years, and not only will I be doing one of his songs on the CD and at the festival, but he'll be singing with me as well. He's someone who could help the festival for years to come."
Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall Ninth Hawaii International
Jazz Festival
When: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday
Tickets: $20, $35 and $40. Two-night purchase has a $5 discount off the second night. $5 discount for Foodland Maika'i cardholders, military and seniors. Special $5 student ticket (in $20 category) available.
Call: 941-9974
Click for online
calendars and events.
