David DeMotta

About

David DeMotta is a jazz pianist, educator, and music scholar based in the New York City area. He maintains an active career as a performer, university instructor, and private teacher, with extensive experience teaching jazz performance, jazz history, music theory, world music, improvisation, and applied piano.

David DeMotta performs regularly throughout the New York metropolitan area in solo, trio, and ensemble settings. His playing reflects a deep engagement with the bebop tradition, contemporary jazz piano, Brazilian music, and cross-cultural improvisational practices.

His recent trio recording, Everything I Love, featuring bassist Paul Gill and drummer Jason Tiemann, presents a program of standards and original compositions shaped by a contemporary approach to the jazz tradition.

As an educator, DeMotta has taught at Hunter College (CUNY), Montclair State University, William Paterson University, and Princeton University, in subjects ranging from jazz history and analysis to world music, the evolution of Black music in the Americas, and applied jazz piano. He also teaches privately from his home studio in Oradell, New Jersey.

He holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the CUNY Graduate Center, where his dissertation examined the contributions of Bud Powell to the modern jazz style; his research on Powell has appeared in Jazz Perspectives.

Education, publications, and dissertation

Press

Photos for press and promotional use. Click an image to download the full-size file.

  • David DeMotta at a grand piano, arms crossed
  • David DeMotta leaning on a grand piano, chin resting on his hand
  • David DeMotta seated at a grand piano, arms resting on a chair back
  • David DeMotta in a suit and red tie in front of a grand piano

University Teaching

  • Hunter College, CUNY

    2012–Present

    Adjunct Assistant Professor

    Music Theory Fundamentals · History of Jazz · World Music · Evolution of Black Music in the Americas · Jazz and Popular Music Combos · Hunter Jazz Ensemble · Private Piano Instruction

  • Montclair State University

    2022–Present

    Adjunct Professor of Music

    Introduction to Jazz · Diverse Worlds of Music · Jazz Performance Practicum · Graduate Seminar in Historical and Theoretical Studies · Private Instruction in Jazz Piano and Improvisation

  • William Paterson University

    2017–2022

    Adjunct Professor

    Jazz History and Analysis I & II · Music Theory Fundamentals · Understanding Jazz: History and Appreciation

  • Princeton University

    2012

    Lecturer

    Introduction to the Evolution of Jazz Styles