David Jellema

Austin, Texas · Traditional & Hot Jazz

David Jellema

Cornet and clarinet in the hot style of 1920s New Orleans and Chicago, for swing dances, clubs, weddings and festivals.

Book a date Hear him play
Cornet
40+ years
Clarinet
25+ years
Home base
Austin, TX
David Jellema playing clarinet against a whitewashed brick wall
David JellemaClarinet
Heard with
  • Jim Cullum Jazz Band
  • Tim Laughlin
  • The Joymakers
  • Jonathan Doyle Swingtet
  • Hal Smith
  • Steamboat Stompers

Listen

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“In his fluency, creativity, attack, tone and technique, David’s playing always reminds me of Bix.”

0:00 / 3:53

More on SoundCloud.

Watch

On the bandstand

David Jellema Quartet Live at Monks Jazz Club

More on YouTube

Records

Take the band home

The Oxblood Melodians album cover: gold gramophone emblem on red cloth

Jonathan Doyle & David Jellema · 2020

The Oxblood Melodians

A small group in the manner of the New York and Chicago recording bands of the mid-to-late 1920s, with bass saxophone out front and blues underneath. Fourteen sides cut over two days at Dandyville in Austin with a crew of favorite Austinites and honorary ones.

  1. Louis-I-An-Ia (Day 2)2:53
  2. Oh Daddy Blues3:15
  3. Dardanella3:09
  4. Goose Pimples3:23
  5. New Orleans Shuffle5:19
  6. Of All the Wrongs You've Done to Me3:54
  7. Farewell Blues3:26
  8. Cryin' All Day3:07
  9. Don't Give All the Lard Away2:52
  10. Feel the River Move3:15
  11. Old Stack O'Lee Blues3:06
  12. Love Affairs2:56
  13. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams4:18
  14. Louis-I-An-Ia (Day 1)3:51

Recorded February 10–11, 2014. David Jellema, cornet & clarinet · Jonathan Doyle, bass sax & contra-alto clarinet · Alice Spencer, vocals · Lyon Graulty, clarinet & tenor sax · Mark Gonzales, trombone · Westen Borghesi & J.D. Pendley, banjo & guitar · Austin Smith, violin · Hal Smith, drums.

Buy on Bandcamp · $15

More records with David

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    Shows

    Where to catch him

    David plays around Austin most weeks with a rotating cast of hot jazz and swing bands, and travels for festivals.

    Upcoming

      No public dates are posted right now, so the calendar is open. Book a date or follow along on Facebook.

      Bands he plays with

      • The Joymakers
      • The Oxblood Melodians
      • Jonathan Doyle Swingtet
      • Sahara Swingtet
      • Hollywood Revue
      • East Side Dandies
      • Waller Creek Vipers
      • Thrift Set Orchestra
      • Bat City Six
      • The Jazz Pharaohs
      • Albanie and Her Fellas
      • Floyd Domino All Stars
      • Brooks Prumo Orchestra
      • The Second Shiftduo with Dan Walton
      Portrait of David Jellema in a fedora and dark suit

      About

      A lifer in the old styles

      “I’m a freelance musician living in Austin, playing the styles of music I first heard when I was very young.”

      Born in Washington, D.C., David spent boyhood summers on Lake Michigan, where Tom Pletcher and Don Ingle, veterans of the Sons of Bix, set him on his way. He joined his first traditional jazz band, Southern Comfort, at thirteen, and came up through the D.C. scene with the Buck Creek Jazz Band, the Federal Jazz Commission and others.

      Between gigs he earned a degree in classical civilizations, spent two years in Egypt doing refugee relief work, and took a master’s in library science, which included processing Duke Ellington’s business records at the Smithsonian. His Tennessee years brought three CDs with the New Traditional Jazz Band and a national tour with the Juan Prophet Organization.

      In 2007 he moved to San Antonio to work with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band and co-founded the Mission City Hot Rhythm Cats. Today he freelances out of Austin with more than a dozen bands, and he also teaches cornet and clarinet.

      Cornet
      1965 Getzen Eterna, plus an 1893 English Besson and an 1890s Conn
      Clarinet
      1978 Buffet R13 and a 1960s Selmer 10
      On the radio
      Riverwalk Jazz, Program 344: “Chicago’s Jazz Age Melting Pot”
      Lessons
      Cornet and clarinet. Ask through the booking form.
      David playing cornet into a hand-held mute David playing cornet in front of a wall of bottles and barrels David playing cornet with a bowler hat as a mute David playing cornet by a window

      Book David

      Hire a hot cornet

      Tell David about your date and he'll reply personally. He plays as a sideman in your band or brings a group of his own, from a duo on up.

      • Swing & lindy hop dances
      • Clubs, bars & restaurants
      • Weddings & private parties
      • Festivals & concerts
      • Recording sessions
      • Cornet & clarinet lessons

      Already have David's number? Calling or texting is the fastest way to reach him.

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      Buy on Bandcamp