Dave was offered a job with a road band and toured with the Denver Affair for two years and ended up as the Hammond B-3 player in the house band at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada for a few more years.  Dave joined the United States Armed Forces Bicentennial Band in late 1974 and began a new military career of touring the country.  When the Bicentennial program ended in December of 1976, Dave joined the Army Field Band at Ft. Meade, MD and continued touring the country.

Dave with his 1st issue of "Wings" magazine

Dave's 1st plane

Dave with his 2 closest childhood friends; Jerry Rayburn at left & David Rex-England at right.

In October 1980, Dave joined the staff at the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, VA as “Rhythm Vocal Branch Head.”  In 1986 Dave was transferred to the U. S. Army Band of New York City at Fort Hamilton, NY.  Within a matter of months, he became the commander of the New York City Army Band for

IIn 1990 Dave retired from the Military and moved to Albuquerque, NM where he organized The Young Razzcals Jazz Project.  The Young Razzcals have recorded nine CDs and appeared at numerous jazz festivals to include the Telluride Jazz Celebration in 1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006.  The 2001 & 2002 Razzcals group combined young musicians from the East Coast as well as the West and recorded a CD called, “East Meets West, The Young Razzcals Jazz Project.”  The Razzcals also recorded the musical sound track for the Electric Bridge Project, an environmental film depicting the five environmental areas of the US and using students as the actors.  The producers wanted a young band and selected the Young Razzcals Jazz Project for the sound track. 

Dave is currently the jazz band director at An Achievable Dream Academy Middle School in Newport News, Virginia and plays piano with Steve Nygaard and the Birdland Express.  Birdland Express has recorded four CDs;  “Land of Make-Believe”; “Passionfire” with guest artists Bobby Shaw, Butch Miles and Dmitri Matheny; “Jazzy Christmas”; and “Hi Fly” featuring Richie Cole on alto and Steve Nygaard on trumpet.
 

Dave’s mentor on Bass Trumpet was Jazz Hall of Fame artist, Rich Matteson.  His early influence on trumpet came from Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie.  On piano, Oscar Peterson was his main man.

Dave was the first piano player to play Jazz in the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on opening night.  He has also performed at Carnegie Hall twice.  His forty-year career in jazz includes work with Frank Sinatra, Chet Baker, Connie Stevens, Bobby Shew, Butch Miles, Herbie Mann, Conte Candoli, Bud Shank, Richie Cole, Rich Matteson, Steve Nygaard, John Lewis, Tommy Newsom, Billy Morris, Dmitri Matheny, Terry Burrell, Larry Coryell, Hod O'Brien, Doug Miller and many other icons in the field of jazz.  Dave played piano and bass trumpet on a CD featuring trumpeter, Steve Nygaard with guests Bobby Shew, Dmitri Matheny and Butch Miles, drummer with the Count Basie Band.  Dave was named in the 2006-2007 Who's Who in America in Jazz Education.  

From fall 1995 through spring 1998 Dave taught music history, band and filming classes at Bosque Prep in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Fall of 1998 Dave and his wife Vickie moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia where Dave accepted a position on the facility at the Academy of Music in Norfolk as Jazz Studies Director.

In 2000, Dave was bestowed the honor of “Tidewater Resident Jazz Musician” and was invited to lecture in local Virginia Beach schools.

In 2001 Dave was selected as “Virginia Beach All City Jazz Band Director.” 

Dave is still a rated pilot and won the National Brewer Aerospace Award in 1995 for his work in aviation with young people. He was the Chief Pilot for the Aviation Careers Education (ACE) program and was responsible for organizing a flight experience that flew over

Dave giving parking directions as members of the tribe help Dave push his plane off the highway where he had just landed. at the Accoma Indian Reservation

Dave was also the piano player in the movie, "Marilyn", starring Catherine Hicks.