Dave Haskell at Aqus Cafe

The history of jazz is strewn with brilliant players who have inexplicably eluded widespread recognition, flying under the radar of labels, journalists, and fans. But guitarist David Haskell's stealth status over the past two decades isn't hard to explain. He's spent most of that time on the move as a commercial pilot, fulfilling a dream that took root as a child, about the same time he became enamored with the guitar. Before Haskell took to the air as a profession, he was a widely respected improviser at the center of the San Francisco jazz scene, a versatile, blues-drenched player often heard as a sideman and bandleader at high profile venues like Keystone Korner.

Now that he's hung up his wings, Haskell is once again making waves on the Bay Area scene, working with a superlative band featuring the brilliant pianist Adam Shulman (whose credits include gigs with Stefon Harris, Miguel Zenon, Luciana Souza, Paula West, and Bobby Hutcherson), bassist Gabe Davis who has toured with trumpeter Jon Faddis and vocalist Dee Dee Bridgwater as well as appearing with renown blues artist Buddy Guy, and supremely tasteful drummer Alan Hall, an A-List accompanist known for his work backing masters such as Eddie Harris, Art Lande, Billy Childs, Kenny Werner, and John Handy. With his lean, fluid tone, clean attack, and simmering sense of swing, Haskell is back in fighting trim, ready to pick up his music career where he left off back in the mid-1980s.