About
David
Pianist
and composer David Drazin
is a music and motion
picture archivist who has acquired a national
reputation
for
his piano improvisations accompanying silent films. Among
silent
movie
screenings for which he has performed are
Cinevent Film Festival in
Columbus,
Ohio, the Gene Siskel
Film Center of the School of the Art Institute in
Chicago
(staff accompanist since 1985), Pordenone Silent Film
Festival,
Italy (guest pianist 2003 and 2004), Silent Film
Society of Chicago,
Argonne
National Laboratory, LaSalle
Bank Theatre, North Carolina Museum of Art
in Raleigh, the
Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Cinematheque
as
well as at many universities, libraries and
churches.
He is notable among
contemporary
film accompanists for his use of the 1920s-era
jazz and blues, rather
than
classic ragtime, in playing for
silent comedies. His improvisational
ballet
and dance
accompaniment skills serve him well in developing music
for
dramas,
such as the films in the Fritz Lang film series
recently shown at the
Art
Institute.
Not limited only to music,
David
has
operated cameras and projectors as well as crafting
several
short
films
of his own. His archive collection includes 78
rpm records, 8 and 16
millimeter
silent and sound
films.
Jazz,
Ballet and
Modern Dance
Music
In
addition to his film music work,
Mr. Drazin has accompanied
ballet and modern dance classes for Evanston
School of
Ballet, Gus Giordano Dance Center, Northwestern
University,
Hubbard
Street Dance Company, and Lou Conte
School of dance. Versatile with
dance
music, he has also
performed music for tap dance at the
Chicago
Cultural
Center.
His CD
recordings include
ballet improvisations, modern and
traditional
jazz,
original comedy songs with vocals and piano
accompaniment, and a live
nightclub
performance featuring
Chicago blues guitar legend Floyd McDaniel.
A
native of Cleveland, Ohio,
Mr.
Drazin received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies
from Ohio State
University.
An accomplished performer, he
moves easily from dramatic classical to
lively
jazz styles,
boogie-woogie and blues, original novelty works and
Harlem
stride piano.
Dave's
Keyboards
In addition to
acoustic piano, Dave
also performs on his Kurzweil SP76 and
his Kawai ES3.
![Dave at the white piano](images/whitepno.jpg)
Dave's Social
networking sites:
Dave's All
About Jazz page
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/daviddrazin
Dave's Reverbnation
page
http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/daviddrazin
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Some
of
the
films
Mr. Drazin
has
accompanied:
Seven Chances (1925,
Buster
Keaton)
Hands Up (1926, Raymond
Griffith)
Peter Pan (1924 Herbert
Brenon)
The Cameraman (1928
Buster
Keaton)
The General (1927,
Buster
Keaton)
Sherlock Jr. (1924,
Buster
Keaton)
Tramp, Tramp. Tramp
(1926,
Harry Langdon)
The Wedding March
(1928,
Erich Von Stroheim)
Exit Smiling
(1926, Beatrice
Lillie)
Earth (1930, A.
Dovzhenko)
Arsenal (1929, A.
Dovzhenko)
I Was Born But...
(1932,
Yasujiro Ozu)
The Gold Rush (1925,
Charlie
Chaplin)
Grandma's Boy (1922,
Harold
Lloyd)
Aelita, Queen of Mars
(1924,
Yakov Protazanov)
Metropolis
(1927, Fritz Lang)
Spies (1928, Fritz
Lang)
When the Clouds Roll By
(1919,
Douglas Fairbanks)
Stella Maris
(1918, Mary
Pickford)
Intolerance (1916,
D.W. Griffith)
Faust (1926, F.W.
Murnau)
City Girl (1930, F.W.
Murnau)
Within Our Gates (1920,
Oscar
Micheaux)
My Boy (1922, Jackie
Coogan)
(Studio recording)
Underworld
(1927, Josef von
Sternberg)
Chicago
(1928, Frank Urson)
Sky High (1922, Tom
Mix)
The Toll Gate (1920, William
S.
Hart)
Les Vampires (1915-16,
Feuillade)
His People (1925,
Edward
Sloman)
The Lodger (1926,
Alfred
HItchcock)
Redskin (1929,
Richard Dix)
Resource
Links to Silent Film, Jazz
and Dance
Silent
Film Society
of Chicago
Cinevent
Film
Festival
Northbrook
Public
Library Classic Films
Series
Gene
Siskel Film
Center
Damfinos
Silents
Are
Golden
Silent
Era
Moviediva
Greg
Dunlap,
film
fan
Classic
Images
Arnie
Bernstein,
writer
Michael
Neno
- Silents in the Court
MilestoneFilms.com
F.W.
Murnau
tribute website
Wisconsin
Bioscope
Lillian
Gish
Jazz
Improv
Bix
Beiderbecke
Society
Colin
Davey's Boogie
Woogie site
Steve
Dore's boogie
woogie site
American
Music Research
Foundation boogie woogie & blues
site
Stride Piano
Tricks
Famous
In The
Future jazz &
comedy site
Phil
Pospychala's - Tribute to Bix
Barbara
Rosene
- jazz vocalist
Juli
Wood
- jazz sax
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