Grammy Nominated and Juilliard trained, David Linard shares his love for timeless feel-good music as a pianist, composer, educator, and musical director

During the pandemic, Dave, along with Wayne Tucker and other close friends, brought joy to Brooklyn by playing in Prospect Park almost daily, thoroughly charming the community, as praised by The New York Times. Additionally, he utilized that time to co-found Playbook, an interactive and immersive remote musical learning platform.

As a long-time member of Sammy Miller and the Congregation, David has traversed the globe, performing at renowned venues such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz à Juan, Jazz à Megève, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, SF Jazz, and the Bowery Ballroom.

David composed the music for both seasons of the Spotify original podcast "Tell Them, I Am." This production, partially produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, garnered recognition, winning the Webby Award for "Best Diversity and Inclusion Podcast." Time and The Atlantic also included it on their respective lists of the best podcasts of 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, Dave imparted his knowledge in schools across the five boroughs of NYC as a member of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz for Young People program. He also served as a musical director in Ars Nova's Makers Lab program, frequently collaborated with blues artists such as SaRon Crenshaw and Junior Mack, and occasionally toured as a pianist with saxophonist Grace Kelly and as a drummer with Gracie and Rachel.

In 2015, he earned his MM from the Juilliard School, studying under the tutelage of Kenny Barron and Frank Kimbrough, while closely collaborating with Wynton Marsalis.

In 2023, Linard will release his debut record, "Nearsighted." Although this marks his first endeavor as a bandleader, he is no stranger to the recording studio. In 2020, Linard received his first Grammy nomination for his contributions to Derek Bermel's "Migrations." In 2022, he released "Storytime," a collaborative project with fellow Juilliard graduates Dan Stein and Dag Markus. Moreover, David has showcased his piano and harmonica skills on Sammy Miller and the Congregation's albums, including their latest work, "Leaving Egypt" (2020), and their self-titled mixtape (2018). In 2017, he played drums on Gracie and Rachel's self-titled debut album, which made Bob Boilen's list of top 10 albums of 2017 and NPR's top 100 albums of the same year.

Image by Birgit Buchart at Prosper Pianos in BK, NY