David Piltch

A leading bass player on Canada's music scene since the early 1980s, David Piltch has worked with the likes of k.d. lang, Elton John and Chet Baker and released a handful of his own smooth, soulful jazz-pop solo albums.

Born in Toronto, he grew up in a musical family and cut his teeth playing in bands with his guitarist brother Rob, pianist sister Susan and father Bernie, who played saxophone and clarinet and was a studio musician for nearly 40 years. By the age of 17 Piltch was playing in lounge bars and jazz clubs and sat in with touring musicians such as Zoot Sims and Art Pepper. He then toured with experimental jazz-rock ensemble Blood, Sweat and Tears and played on their 1980 album 'Nuclear Blues'. He was also part of the trio Strangeness Beauty and backed Mary Margaret O'Hara on her classic album 'Miss America' in 1988 before beginning long-running spells as a stand-up bassist for jazz diva Holly Cole and became key sideman to Canadian icon k.d. lang.

Moving to California in the 1990s he teamed up with pianist Aaron Davis to interpret folk, blues and cabaret standards such as 'Black Is the Colour of My True Love's Hair' and 'Last Day of Summer' on the intimate acoustic record 'Piltch & Davis', and in 2008 he recruited Lang and Cole - as well as Bill Frisell, Mark Anthony Thompson and Petra Haden - to feature on his album 'Minister of the Interior'. His elegant, understated style was again on display when he collaborated with Larry Goldings and Jay Bellerose on 2014's 'Music from the Front Room' and over the years he has continued to work as a well-respected session musician and played with acts as diverse as Eminem, Gnarls Barkley, John Legend, Allen Toussaint, Solomon Burke and Madeleine Peyroux.