David Loeb, M.M.
Director, Coordinator, Division of Jazz and Commercial Music
Biography
David Loeb is director of the Division of Jazz and Commercial Music and a professor of music at 51ԹϺ's, School of Music. He has performed as a jazz pianist with Arturo Sandoval, Nancy Wilson, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Williams, Tom Harrell, Anita O’Day, Bill Watrous, Tom Scott, Bobby Shew, Karrin Allyson, Paul Horn, Natalie Cole, Joe Farrell, Pepper Adams, Ray Brown, Joe Locke, and many others. As a session pianist in Los Angeles recording studios, Loeb played for television shows including Family Guy, Quantum Leap, and the Emmy Awards, and movies including Ted, The Birdcage, and Pocahontas.
He was principal keyboardist with The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, accompanying musical artists including Andrea Bocelli, Audra McDonald, Gil Shaham, Patti LuPone, Placido Domingo, Jewel, James Galway, Kristin Chenoweth, Joshua Bell, Jessye Norman and Quincy Jones. Loeb also played on television shows, movie soundtracks and recordings for Bette Midler, Herbie Hancock, Robin Williams, Norah Jones, Jim Carey, Jennifer Holiday, Curtis Mayfield, Alan Menken, Walter Murphy, Carl Anderson, Bonnie Raitt, Mike Post, Smokey Robinson, Jerry Lewis, Whitney Houston, Connie Francis, W.G. Snuffy Walden, Randy Newman, Dionne Warwick, and many others. He was pianist with Questlove, Ben Wendel, Angela Brown and other musical artists on the Grammy Award-winning recording, "Ask Your Mama," composed by Laura Karpman, and musical director, conductor and pianist for Ben Vereen with The National Symphony Orchestra; and for Dee Dee Bridgewater with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
At the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Loeb was conductor and co-musical director, with Don Was, for the CBS television special, Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert, with Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, Harry Connick, Jr., Katharine McPhee, Garth Brooks, Alicia Keys, Seth MacFarlane, Nick Jonas, Carrie Underwood, Usher, John Legend, Tricia Yearwood, Zach Brown, Juanes and Adam Levine, musical director and conductor for Twyla Tharp’s “Sinatra Dance With Me” and Steve Wynn’s “Showstoppers,” and conductor for Lady Gaga’s concert appearance. In Las Vegas at The Smith Center, he performed Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and was musical director, conductor and pianist for Larry Rosen’s Jazz Roots series with Clint Holmes, Kirk Whalum, Take 6 and Nnenna Freelon. Loeb orchestrated for George Benson, Miriam Makeba, Doc Severinsen and many others, arranged for the Academy Awards, Comic Relief, and the American Music Awards; and composed for PBS television and Dolly Parton.
Under his direction, 51ԹϺ Jazz Studies students earned prestigious DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards, performed at the acclaimed Monterey Jazz Festival and Midwest Clinic and garnered outstanding CD reviews from JazzTimes Magazine. Loeb received the distinguished Nevada System of Higher Education Regents' Creative Activity Award and holds a master of music degree in jazz and contemporary media from the Eastman School of Music, and a bachelor of science in music education from West Chester University of Pennsylvania.