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BIOGRAPHY

David Anthony Zee was "discovered" at age 12 by his church choir director, classical pianist and Peabody Conservatory faculty member Virginia Reinecke, who heard him playing popular songs for grade school friends during a rehearsal break. She asked who had taught him to play, he told her he "sort of figured them on his own," and the international concert artist immediately took him on as a student.

 

But the classical music career Virginia envisioned for David was not to be. He recalls, "I love Bach, Debussy, and Stravinsky, and I studied traditional four-part harmonization in college, but I was always much more comfortable playing for my friends, singing Simon and Garfunkel songs around the piano."

 

David's ability for quick study on pop keyboard and natural ear for vocals put him in demand among local bands. He played Doobie Brothers and Elton John covers for bell-bottomed dancers at high school events, while his adventurous jazz musician friends took him to concerts featuring McCoy Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, and other bebop pioneers.  

 

In the 1980s, David led a Chicago-style blues band, was a sideman in a Motown-style revue called the Rhythm Express, and began a 15-year solo engagement at Baltimore's Waterfront Hotel. His mix of quirky jokes, musical impressions, rowdy singalongs, and audience-tweaking keyboard tricks made him a local institution.

 

The 1990s brought David into an active career composing music for TV, film, and theater, creating scores and songs for Discovery Channel, HGTV, PBS, and countless educational and industrial programs. TV music was a natural fit with his 10-year run as music director for two political comedy theater troupes: DC-based "Gross National Product," featuring actors and writers from the legendary L.A. improv incubator "Groundlings"; and Baltimore's "Loyal Opposition," featuring Maryland Public TV kid show star Bob Heck. Coast-to-coast live comedy show bookings, as well as weekly performances at DC's Bayou and Arena Stage and the Baltimore Creative Alliance, introduced David to a national circuit of special event and theater audiences.

 

David has won several national awards for his compositions, including a 1994 New York Film Festival award for original music and the grand prize in the 2001 Music to Life competition for songs of social concern sponsored by Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary.

 

David lived in Manhattan from 1997 to 2003, where he concentrated on the great American songbook. Returning to Baltimore after divorce from co-songwriter and ex-wife Ashley Pound, he continued an endless schedule of club and festival appearances.

David Anthony Zee was "discovered" at age 12 by his church choir director, classical pianist and Peabody Conservatory faculty member Virginia Reinecke, who heard him playing popular songs for grade school friends during a rehearsal break. She asked who had taught him to play, he told her he "sort of figured them on his own," and the international concert artist immediately took him on as a student.

 

But the classical music career Virginia envisioned for David was not to be. He recalls, "I love Bach, Debussy, and Stravinsky, and I studied traditional four-part harmonization in college, but I was always much more comfortable playing for my friends, singing Simon and Garfunkel songs around the piano."

 

David's ability for quick study on pop keyboard and natural ear for vocals put him in demand among local bands. He played Doobie Brothers and Elton John covers for bell-bottomed dancers at high school events, while his adventurous jazz musician friends took him to concerts featuring McCoy Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, and other bebop pioneers.  

 

In the 1980s, David led a Chicago-style blues band, was a sideman in a Motown-style revue called the Rhythm Express, and began a 15-year solo engagement at Baltimore's Waterfront Hotel. His mix of quirky jokes, musical impressions, rowdy singalongs, and audience-tweaking keyboard tricks made him a local institution.

 

The 1990s brought David into an active career composing music for TV, film, and theater, creating scores and songs for Discovery Channel, HGTV, PBS, and countless educational and industrial programs. TV music was a natural fit with his 10-year run as music director for two political comedy theater troupes: DC-based "Gross National Product," featuring actors and writers from the legendary L.A. improv incubator "Groundlings"; and Baltimore's "Loyal Opposition," featuring Maryland Public TV kid show star Bob Heck. Coast-to-coast live comedy show bookings, as well as weekly performances at DC's Bayou and Arena Stage and the Baltimore Creative Alliance, introduced David to a national circuit of special event and theater audiences.

 

David has won several national awards for his compositions, including a 1994 New York Film Festival award for original music and the grand prize in the 2001 Music to Life competition for songs of social concern sponsored by Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary.

 

David lived in Manhattan from 1997 to 2003, where he concentrated on the great American songbook. Returning to Baltimore after divorce from co-songwriter and ex-wife Ashley Pound, he continued an endless schedule of club and festival appearances.

Can't Sit Still Band

"Can't Sit Still" features a music and recording "Who's Who" from the Baltimore area. Drummer Ralph Tucker, formerly with Swing Central and the Big Dog Band, has performed with trumpeter Dizzy Gilespie and the Stan Kenton Big Band. Saxophonist David E. Smith has performed sideman duties for organ legend Jimmy McGriff and jazz singer Ethel Ennis, as well as an endless number of Baltimore blues and jazz ensembles. The CD was mixed at John Grant's Secret Sound, where countless Maryland artists have recorded, including Disappear Fear and O'Malley's March. Mastering engineer Ty Ford is a nationally recognized expert on audio production and journalist who contributes regularly to Pro Audio Review and Mix magazines

The AfterTime Recording Band

Mike Burd, bass
Mike is a long-time resident of the Western Mountains area of Maine. He has appeared regularly with folk icon David Mallett since 1981. He also enjoys performing with numerous area bands covering virtually all styles of music fromblues and R&Bto jazz.

 

Josh Fournier, drums
Josh grew up in Westbrook, ME, playing everything from Jazz to Steel drums. He plays regularly with a funk-rock-gospel group called BeyondBlue. He works and teaches for the Westbrook marching band.

 

 

The AfterTime Live Band

 

Sadly, Charlie and John passed away several years after our 2010 show with Noel Stookey at the historic Blair Mansion (now the Potter Violin Company) in Silver Spring MD, plus other dates in the Maryland area.

 

Charles Steinhauser memoriam link:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/baltimoresun/name/charles-steinhauser-obituary?id=7466643

 

Charles played bass for over 40 years, at first on electric in a variety of old school R&B and classic rock bands. Later Charles expanded to upright bass; he played with small jazz ensembles and a 17 piece big band in hometown Baltimore.

 

John Kessell memoriam link:

https://www.southeastiowaunion.com/obituaries/john-richard-kessell-2/


John's early career was spent in home state Iowa playing drums with regional fusion jazz heroes This Side Up. After moving to Baltimore, he began playing with various R&B, rock, and jazz ensembles.  John was on the Faculty of the Fletcher Music School and Assistant Conductor of the Powerhouse Big Band.

 

 

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