DAVE WILDER   Composer   Songwriter   Bass Player

Dave grew up in NJ where he picked up the bass after hearing  r&b 

on the radio and watching Soul Train on TV.  As teenager, he was

digging the  early hip hop and reggae he heard on NYC radio

stations and his brother’s classic rock records.  Soon he was  in over his head,

playing bass in the award winning, highly competitive

Princeton High School jazz band (the real life inspiration

for the film Whiplash) and in a punk band  with his best friends.
 

After high school, Dave studied liberal arts with a minor in music

at the University of  Pennsylvania and jazz on the side with the late

Denis Sandole, (Teacher of John Coltrane and James Moody).

Sandole stretched his ear, exposing him to harmonies and sounds

he had never encountered before. For work, he played jazz gigs 

and for fun, would back local rappers at parties in West Philly.

 

In 1991, Dave moved to LA with the goal of producing hip hop.

He soon fell into an eclectic scene of like minded musicians, DJ’s, and rappers experimenting with a wide range of styles.  Dave was backing up and jamming with rappers like Chali Tuna, and Mark 7 from Jurassic 5 and Dj’s like Cut Chemist and NuMark, and a host of musicians from all different backgrounds.  He was really enjoying the fluidity of this distinctly LA scene where musically, nothing was off limits.

During this time, Macy Gray saw Dave playing with a soul group called the 2pc at a Hollywood club in 1993 and eventually recruited him to play and co-write with her. By 1997, Macy had gotten a record deal, largely from the song “I Try ” (2001 Grammy nominated “Song of the Year”) which she had co-written with Dave and two friends years earlier. She convinced Dave to quit his touring gig with Liz Phair to play with her again.
 

Over next three years, Dave toured the world playing with Macy in front of every size audience imaginable.  He jammed onstage with idols like Bootsy Collins, Carlos Santana, Prince, and George Clinton, Questlove and learned first hand how to move a crowd. He played on countless TV shows throughout the world from “Top of the Pops,” to “Saturday Night Live.”

 

In 2001, weary of 5 straight years of touring, Dave came back to LA and began, playing electric and upright bass on dozens of records, as well as tv and movie soundtracks.. Since then, he has played bass on albums in LA, Nashville, and New York, from Norah Jones, to Ziggy Marley, to De La Soul and every where in between.  In 2007, He started playing in a reggae band called the Lions with some of his oldest friends from his years in LA.  The group has made four well received records for Ubiquity and Stones Throw while also getting to back up Jamaican legends like the Heptones.

 

He continued writing songs with Macy and many other artists, (Rod Stewart, Bruno Mars, Mozella, Joss Stone etc) and started  writing music to picture in his home studio. 

 

Many years of experimenting with all kinds of music, and creating emotion on stage  was the perfect training for a career as a composer. Armed with guitars, basses, analog synths, drum machines and a drum kit, Dave found that he loved making music in any style to help tell on-screen stories, whether movies, cartoons, commercials or art pieces.  His original music and collaborations can be heard around the world, streaming, in movie theaters, on tv, and  in art galleries.