A Des Moines native, versatile trumpeter Dave Rezek has been a much sought-after private teacher, clinician, festival adjudicator, front/sideman, and guest artist with colleges and high schools. He has been busy with many creative projects, including his own original-music septet Dave Rezek’s Alpha State Agents, the Des Moines Big Band, the Max Wellman Big Band & Quintet, 'Ceptet, the Bryan Schumacker Quintet, the Tony Valdez Large Band, and Mike Conrad's Colossus Central Big Band. He has also collaborated and performed with numerous other top area artists including John Kizilarmut, Karl McComas-Reichl, Chris Merz, Jason Danielson, Damani Phillips, Mitch Towne, Bob Washut, Sam Salomone, Susie Miget, Jim Oatts, Chris Steinke, Scott Barnum, and Orquesta Alto Maiz.
In May of 2015, Des Moines Big Band trumpeter and bandleader of 30 years Jim Oatts retired and handed the baton to Dave. The DMBB celebrated its 57th year in 2016 and triumphantly returned to downtown Des Moines, as the new Noce Jazz & Cabaret club's resident band, performing every Wednesday night. He is faculty at Susie Miget's Creative Music Studio, Iowa's only year-round private jazz studies school, where he teaches trumpet techniques, jazz improvisation and private trumpet instruction, and he had previously worked as a Teaching Artist at Drake University as the Combo Coordinator and coach of Jazz Combo I. Dave also founded the popular Friday Jazz Happy Hour series at The Basement in the Des Moines Social Club, which he handed to Synergy Jazz Foundation. In 2015, Dave was the recipient of a Community Jazz Center Special Recognition Award for his contributions to the jazz tradition in Central Iowa.
Dave received his Bachelor of Music Education degree with a Jazz Studies emphasis at the University of Northern Iowa, where he studied with Randy Grabowski, and his Master of Music degree in Jazz Trumpet Performance at New England Conservatory, where he was a member of the Honors Jazz Quintet, was a teaching assistant, and studied with John McNeil, Danilo Perez, and Bob Brookmeyer. In Boston, he performed throughout New England and while at NEC performed with Danilo Perez, Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider, George Russell and Gunther Schuller. In both Boston and NYC, he worked with many of Brookmeyer's top former student composers who had formed their own innovative large ensembles, including Darcy James Argue, JC Sanford, David Schumacher, Ayn Inserto, Hans Indigo, Javier Arau, and Christian Pincock. While in New York, he was performing as an original member of multi-Grammy nominated Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, and he was a frequent sub on Broadway shows. Dave was a designated sub with Jersey Boys, with which he appeared onstage at the 2006 Tony Awards, when the show took home the Best Musical award.
After 10 years on the East Coast, in 2007, Dave moved with his wife and infant son to his hometown of Des Moines to raise their family and begin a new chapter in his playing and teaching career. There are now two sons who are starting to make music of their own and talk of playing music with their dad...or perhaps winning Gold Gloves with the Red Sox some day. Dave would be perfectly fine with either scenario.