David Boeddinghaus

David Boeddinghaus was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey. At the age of nine he traveled into New York City to study piano with Modena Scovill Lane, wife of American composer Eastwood Lane. He was a student at Indiana University under Hans Graf, and continued studying with Graf for a year in Vienna. Upon returning to the States, he temporarily left his classical studies to freelance in New York City playing with various jazz bands.

Although he returned to Indiana University to study with James Tocco and British pianist John Ogdon, and graduate with a Master’s degree in classical performance, his love for early jazz took him to New Orleans where he has been a member and subsequently musical director for Banu Gibson and her band the New Orleans Hot Jazz. David's musical travels have taken him to Beijing, Hong Kong, Japan, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Oslo, London, and Australia. He appeared on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show accompanying vocalist Leon Redbone. He was the musical director and pianist for the award winning documentary film Crumb. With Banu Gibson & the New Orleans Hot Jazz he has performed with the Boston Pops for their Millennium celebration; on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion; and at the Hollywood Bowl twice, once for the Playboy Jazz Festival and again with John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. For three years before Hurricane Katrina David played with legendary New Orleans clarinetist Pete Fountain. In the summer of 2006 David flew to Paris to become the musical director & pianist of Jerome Savary’s “Looking for Josephine” at the legendary Opera Comique.

David's love for early jazz combined with his classical training has made David a most able exponent of a wide range of jazz piano styles, from the New Orleans style of Jelly Roll Morton, to the Harlem stride of Fats Waller, to the swing style of Teddy Wilson.