In Part 2 of this interview, Dave Tofani talks about how he managed the demands of being a first-call multi-instrumentalist and the essential qualities for becoming a successful studio musician. He sheds light on specific studio sessions and concert performances that are incorporated in the video. Also discussed are the ways that emerging musical styles in the 1970s–1990s influenced his equipment choices. Finally, Dave offers advice to young woodwind doublers looking to enter the profession and comments on some of the illustrious woodwind colleagues he worked with throughout his career.
Please visit www.DaveTofani.com to learn more about Dave and to purchase his recordings.
If you haven’t watched it already here is Dave Tofani: NY Studio Legend – Part 1
About the Artist: Dave Tofani is representative of the great musicians who permeated the New York studio and freelance scene for much of the latter half of the 20th century. Dave began his professional music career while still an undergraduate at The Juilliard School. Selected by his mentor Joe Allard to perform with the Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra, Dave quickly became an important part of the vibrant New York studio scene that existed in the 1960s-2000. He has appeared on over 600 commercial recording and over 100 movie soundtracks. The list of artists he has appeared with is a Who’s Who of the music industry including Quincy Jones, John Lennon, the New York Philharmonic, Steely Dan, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Dave Sanborn, George Benson, James Galway, Bill Evans, Natalie Cole, James Brown, Buddy Rich, Aretha Franklin, the Dave Matthews Big Band, and hundreds more. A virtuoso instrumentalist on all saxophones, clarinets, and flutes, Dave was a three-time recipient of the NARAS Most Valuable Player Award voted on by his musical colleagues and the only woodwind artist to ever be nominated on 5 different woodwinds: soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, and flute. Dave is also a formidable composer and arranger whose compositions are featured on all his solo recordings. Two of those albums—Manhattan Carnival and An American Garden—were Grammy nominated.