Vic’s Las Vegas, February 7-8
This week, Ira spoke with drummer, vocalist, songwriter, and educator Dave Tull, performing at Vic’s Las Vegas (along with John Belzaguy and Dave Loeb) February 7-8. In this episode of “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” Dave talks about starting drum lessons at 10; growing up with music in the house in Berkeley; taking jazz band classes early on; worked with Maynard Ferguson right after college; the change in the recording scene with his generation; the genesis of “The Texting Song”; being known for having songs with humor in them; why he also loves to teach; why he began signing after 15 years of drumming; how singing and drumming are all coming from the same place; how singing and drumming at the same time are like having a fifth limb; “time feel”; working with Jack Sheldon for more than 20 years; drawing a little bit out of every experience you have; leading his own band since 2007; working with Barbra Streisand (2016-19) and her level of performance; and the song he always performs at every venue.
Singing from the drums, Dave brings to the stage a rare combination of joyous songwriting, world-class jazz singing and drumming. Think “Frishberg meets Gershwin.” Dave’s songs have been called both “laugh out loud funny” and inspiring of “soul searching and introspection”.
Dave’s celebrated first CD, “I Just Want To Get Paid,” continues to get regular airplay many years after its release.
When not leading his own trio, Dave is one of the busiest drummers on the scene. In 2016 Dave became the drummer for Barbra Streisand and has played five tours with Streisand including Madison Square Garden in July 2019, and on Barbra’s GRAMMY NOMINATED live Netflix concert video, “Barbra – “The Music..The Mem’ries..The Magic!” Dave toured from 2000-2010 as drummer and lead vocalist for Chuck Mangione. He is the drummer on Pixar’s popular series, “Forky Asks A Question” and Disney’s “Monsters At Work.”
Dave has led his trio at the Vail Jazz Festival and Winter Concert Series three times, Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, twice at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (with a two-hour broadcast on KKJZ), San Diego’s KSDS 88.3 FM “Jazz Live” series (a 90-minute live broadcast and interview), the Newport Beach Jazz Party, The Nash in Phoenix, The Arts Garage in Boca Raton FL, The Miami Jazz Coop in Coral Gables, FL, Jazz Showcase in Chicago, the JazzVox house concert series in Seattle, The Strathallan Hotel in Rochester, NY, the “Jazz at Joe’s” concert series in Bend, OR, The California Jazz Arts Society, and countless times at the iconic Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach, CA.
In May 2022 "The Dave Tull Songbook" was released by Sher Music, including 21 of Dave’s original compositions available in print for the first time.