David Roitstein, a pianist and composer, is the Director of the Jazz Program at the California Institute of the Arts. He earned his degrees at the University of Miami. Roitstein was a young musician in a culturally diverse Florida town. He recorded and performed with many artists, including Cuban wedding bands and emerging jazz talent like Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius and Carmen Lundy. He worked with Mel Torme and Carmen McRae as well as Frank Sinatra. David, along with Charlie Haden, a world-renowned bassist, moved to Los Angeles in 1982. They created the award-winning CalArts Jazz Program, which was innovative and highly regarded in 1983. He established the annual CalArts jazz CD project in 1990 with the support from Capitol Records and EMI Music. He has produced 19 CDs at Capitol Studios since then, documenting original compositions from CalArts students. Roitstein performed in clubs, concerts, tours and as a studio musician, for television, film and records, while he was teaching and building the program. Recent recordings include “Americana” (Jazz Compass 1001), which features Scott Colley, Larry Koonse and Kendall Kay. He will soon release two new recordings as a composer. They include chamber music and jazz compositions. Roitstein was named the Mel Powell Chair at CalArts in October 2007. This is one of four honorary endowed faculty chairs within the School of Music. from https://directory.calarts.edu
