Drum Set and Percussion Artist Dave Mancini has toured and performed with many of the premiere artists in the music business, including legendary trumpet player and former Tonight Show Band leader Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson, Maureen McGovern, Eddie Daniels, Urbie Green, Marvin Stamm, Jeff Tyzik, Allen Vizzutti, Don Menza, Bill Dobbins, the Toshiko Akiyoshi/ Lew Tabackin Big Band, Dee Daniels, New York Voices, the Five By Design vocal group, Jennifer Holiday, Ann Hampton Callaway, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Williams, and Bob Hope. He has also shared the bandstand with numerous jazz greats at New York City’s famous jazz nightclub, Eddie Condon’s.
As a percussionist, Dave Mancini has performed with Chuck Mangione, Tony Bennett, Diahann Carroll, and Johnny Mathis, as well as in the pit orchestra for a number of musical theatre productions. He has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, was a member of the percussion section of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1971 – 1981, and was a xylophone soloist on the Eastman Marimba Band album, Nola.
As a drum set and percussion artist performing on symphony orchestra pops concerts with Doc Severinsen, Jeff Tyzik, Maureen McGovern, Dee Daniels, and Five By Design, Dave Mancini has performed with the majority of symphony orchestras in the United States and Canada. These include the Boston Pops, Chicago Symphony, Philly Pops, Pittsburgh Symphony, New York Pops, Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Milwaukee Symphony.
Dave Mancini’s recordings include Salt Peanuts and One On One with saxophonist Denis DiBlasio, Land of Make Believe and Tarantella with Chuck Mangione, Storm with Maynard Ferguson, Rogers and Leonhart with bassist Jay Leonhart, and recordings with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Dave has also recorded the Bartok “Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion” with his teacher John Beck for the Musical Heritage Society. In addition, Dave has played drum set and percussion on several movie soundtracks, radio and television commercials, and television themes.
As a composer, Dave Mancini has numerous published compositions for solo percussion and percussion ensemble. He has also had compositions performed for symphony orchestra, concert band, solo flute and percussion ensemble, and cello quartet with percussion and string bass. Dave Mancini is also the author of Drum Set Fundamentals, as well as a number of articles on drum set techniques, and careers in the music business.
Dave has been involved in community music outreach programs, and for three years was the instructor for a music outreach class at the Eastman School of Music.
Dave Mancini is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he was also awarded the Performer’s Certificate. In addition, he is an artist/clinician for Yamaha Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, and Vic Firth Drumsticks and Mallets. As an artist/clinician, Dave has made numerous appearances at universities, high schools, and junior high schools throughout the United States and Canada, where he performs as a guest soloist and presents hands-on workshops and master classes for the students.
