Biography
Born into one of Texas’s most storied musical lineages, David Caceres has carved an independent path marked by restless innovation. His saxophone delivers a bright yet biting timbre that lets him blend jazz, pop, R&B, and Latin elements into a single voice. While his horn work draws directly from the language of John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis, his vocals favor a hushed, personal delivery shaped by Chet Baker, Donny Hathaway, Frank Sinatra, and Stevie Wonder.
Music was his inheritance from birth. Grandfather Emilio Caceres performed jazz violin and directed swing orchestras throughout the 1930s and ’40s; great-uncle Ernie Caceres handled saxophone and clarinet in the big bands of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman. Caceres began piano lessons at four, moved to alto saxophone before turning twelve, and later mastered soprano and tenor saxophones, clarinet, and flute. After sharpening his craft in local groups, he earned a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Though he spent a short time as a New York sideman after graduating in 1989, he soon returned to Texas to join pianist Paul English’s Houston jazz ensemble.
Caceres maintains a demanding performance calendar. Alongside his straight-ahead David Caceres Quintet, he plays with the fusion outfit Stratus, the funk collective Tkoh!, and assorted big bands. In 1992 he appeared on the Texas public-radio broadcast Live at the Landing: A Tribute to the Jazz Legacy of Ernie and Emilio Caceres. Formerly on the faculty of HSPVA (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts), he now teaches in the University of Houston’s music department and leads his quintet regularly at the Houston venues Cezanne’s and Ovations.
Music was his inheritance from birth. Grandfather Emilio Caceres performed jazz violin and directed swing orchestras throughout the 1930s and ’40s; great-uncle Ernie Caceres handled saxophone and clarinet in the big bands of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman. Caceres began piano lessons at four, moved to alto saxophone before turning twelve, and later mastered soprano and tenor saxophones, clarinet, and flute. After sharpening his craft in local groups, he earned a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Though he spent a short time as a New York sideman after graduating in 1989, he soon returned to Texas to join pianist Paul English’s Houston jazz ensemble.
Caceres maintains a demanding performance calendar. Alongside his straight-ahead David Caceres Quintet, he plays with the fusion outfit Stratus, the funk collective Tkoh!, and assorted big bands. In 1992 he appeared on the Texas public-radio broadcast Live at the Landing: A Tribute to the Jazz Legacy of Ernie and Emilio Caceres. Formerly on the faculty of HSPVA (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts), he now teaches in the University of Houston’s music department and leads his quintet regularly at the Houston venues Cezanne’s and Ovations.
Albums