David Ashton Music

David Ashton is a multi-woodwind performer, composer, improviser, and educator whose work spans classical, jazz, commercial, and contemporary music. Equally at home in the concert hall, jazz club, recording studio, and orchestra pit, he performs on a wide range of woodwind instruments, including flute, oboe, English horn, clarinets, saxophones, and bassoon. His debut album as a leader, Medium-Well Adjusted, showcases his original compositions and inventive arrangements, blending modern jazz with lyrical writing, woodwind counterpoint, and expressive improvisation.

As a performer, David leads his own jazz quartet and big band and is the founder of the woodwind quintet Sonos Venti. He has performed in Broadway productions including The Music Man, Parade, Beetlejuice, Frozen, Aladdin, and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, and has also performed with the Radio City Orchestra. His appearances have taken him to renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Symphony Space, Merkin Hall, Birdland Jazz Club, Dizzy's Club, The Shrine, The Cell Theatre, Somethin' Jazz Club, and the Actor's Temple, as well as international festivals in Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Kongsberg, and Villard-de-Lans.

David serves as Assistant Professor of Woodwinds at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he teaches applied woodwinds and directs the university's Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo program. He previously taught at Rutgers University, Marywood University, the Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program, and the Manhattan School of Music's Distance Learning Program.

He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Classical Clarinet Performance from Rutgers University, studying with Jessica Phillips and Maureen Hurd. He also holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Saxophone Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Donny McCaslin, Rich Perry, Steve Wilson, Dave Liebman, Jim McNeely, Phil Markowitz, Garry Dial, John Riley, and Peter Eldridge. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Brigham Young University, studying clarinet and saxophone with Ray Smith, Daron Bradford, and Jaren Hinckley.