Dave Mihaly

New Jersey born and raised Dave Mihaly is a multi instrumentalist and composer. He spent his early years on the east coast, and began playing in rock bands at the age of 12, as a drummer, the instrument with which he is most identified. He was exposed to jazz and blues music via the record collections of his friend’s older sister. He developed a voracious appetite for listening to music from all genres, and soon was spending time in record stores and the public library expanding and deepening his awareness of sonic forms and sounds. He also began playing guitar and piano, and singing at this time.

At age 16, he realized he could take the train to New York city and witness the musicians he’d been hearing on recordings. So began a journey of absorbing sounds by Pharoah Sanders, Bill Evans, Air, Arthur Blythe, John Fahey, Joanne Brackeen, Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, L. Shankar, Elvin Jones, the Allman Brothers, Jerome Cooper, Charles Mingus and many others. Subsequent studies at Drew University in music theory/history, and psychology along with some private percussion lessons with Andrew Cyrille and Barry Altschul, rounded out his formal education. At 21 he began playing gigs in the loft clubs of the era such as Jazzmania and the Ladies’ Fort, and spending time in the legendary Tin Palace on 2nd and Bowery absorbing the sounds of the loft era. He also recorded music in Stevie Wonder’s downtown studio, with the band Periphery East, through the auspices of Wonder’s scouts, the enigmatically named Byrd and Fountain. He spent time rubbing elbows with Philly Joe Jones, Billy Hart, David Izenson, and with painters and writers who frequented the lower east side between 1973 and 1980.

Mihaly began traveling across the US and Canada on a series of hitch hiking journeys, going to New Orleans, the southwest, and the west coast for the first time. At 24, after having played in the band Periphery in the east coast off and on for several years, he relocated to San Francisco, which became his base.

Mihaly worked in the social service sector using his psychology degree in counseling while playing in a variety of groups; jazz, rock, blues, experimental, and the new wave and punk of the 80s. He began teaching and spent time on the faculty of New Traditions School, and later, the Bird School of music. Always composing and playing, he amassed a book of hundreds of pieces/songs, covering eclectic territory. He wrote music for 7 silent films that was featured at the Mendocino Film Festival and the
Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA.

He began playing with the singer Jolie Holland, with whom he recorded three records, and toured Europe with her 3 times, went on two Australian/New Zealand tours, and crisscrossed the US and Canada playing venues from sports bars to hockey arenas, and everything in between. He also played in Europe with Sean Hayes and Jon Birdsong.

Artists he has played with include: his own band ‘Dave Mihaly and the Shimmering Leaves Ensemble’ with whom he has recorded three CDS of original material, as well as Bardo, the After the End of the World Coretet, Mushroom, Mark Matos and Os Beaches, Jolie Holland, Sean Hayes, the Iron and the Albatross, Bill Noertker’s Moxie, Jon Birdsong and Kaliedophone, Eddie Gale, John Tchicai, Eartha Kitt, Victoria Williams, Gary Floyd, Jennifer Blowdryer, the Cowboys, the Mustangs, KillBossa SF, Stick against Stone, Fallen Angel, Bliss Boy Perez, Merle Sanders, Nice Guy Trio, the hip hop group Lilly White Lies, JC Hopkins in NYC and SF, Joel Harrison, Rent Romus and the Lords of Outland, Kush, Irish Higgins, , Lisle Ellis, Ben Goldberg, Graham Connah, and many, many others.