David Hazeltine

David Hazeltine (born October 27, 1958) is an American jazz pianist.
Hazeltine has been performing professinally since he was thirteen. He did not seriously consider going into music until soon before college. After he entered the jazz world, he was encouraged by Chet Baker, who told him to go to New York.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he studied music with local pianist Will Green. He worked as the house pianist for national acts at the Jazz Gallery and helped retool the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music's jazz program. He has played and recorded with Jon Hendricks, Louis Hayes, and One for All and done composing and arranging as well as teaching. Although he is a pianist, he feels more influenced by saxophonists, particularly Charlie Parker.
Hazeltine is particularly influenced by Parker, Rollins, Bud Powell and early Miles Davis. Of particular note are his arrangements of pop tunes, which appear on most of his albums.
In February 2015, Hazeltine launched an online jazz piano reharmonization course in which he explains, from the keyboard, a series of principles and techniques used to reharmonize jazz standards. The course uses a display technique in which a moving score follows his hands as he plays.

Selected discography

• Your Story with George Mraz
• The Classic Trio (Sharp Nine, 1996)
• The Classic Trio, Vol. 2 (Sharp Nine, 2001)
• Manhattan Autumn (Sharp Nine, 2003)
• Modern Standards (Sharp Nine, 2005)
• Manhattan (Chesky, 2006)
• Perambulation (Criss Cross, 2006)
• The Inspiration Suite (Sharp Nine, 1997)
• The Jobim Songbook in New York (Chesky, 2007)
• Sugar Hill: The Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with Javon Jackson and Tony Reedus
• Alice in Wonderland (Venus, 2009)
• The New Classic Trio (Sharp Nine, 2012)
• Impromptu (Chesky, 2013)
• For All We Know (Smoke Sessions, 2014)
• Next Door with Billy Peterson (Megabien, 2016)