Born to create and shape music in America from the start.
About David Lee Joyner
Born in Greeneville, Tennessee and raised in Memphis, David Lee Joyner is another one of those musical talents rising out of the south.
Those close to David, or having just met him, would best describe him as a musically precocious, hard-working, funny, witty, positive, kind-hearted, and intelligent musician. Yet, he’s masked by humility, gentleness, and always has an uplifting positive spirit. He’s a detail oriented person, tech savvy, and purpose-driven in music and in life.
David would never write this about himself, so this was written about him through the lens of someone who’s come to know him very well. He’s an all-around genuine and loving individual who gives so much of himself in all he does. He values his time with his friends, his family, and helping those less fortune as time permits. David is full of life and enthusiasm, and always greeting you with a sparkling smile.
For decades, David’s public name brand in the music industry had been David Lee Joyner until he married his beloved late wife, when he combined her maiden name with his, as a romantic gesture, to be known as David Deacon-Joyner. After her untimely passing due to cancer, David found himself starting over again. After some time, David returned to his birth & brand name of David Lee Joyner. After about a year, David began the task of small steps forward towards healing and rebuilding his dreams.
David threw himself into his world of music and focused on his health — taking time to regroup and recharge. He surrounded himself with family, friends, and music colleagues playing his heart out. After a little more time, David sought out a new chapter for his life in both his music career and in romance. Picking up the pieces to start over again was no small task, but day-by-day he found new opportunities and new JOY!
David thrives in contemplating and practicing his craft, and purveying many forms of his music services and new music compositions. He brings great pleasure performing on piano and lecturing on jazz music history to retirement communities, as well as entertaining in various other concert venues with other entertainers. One would never know from only casually meeting him the depth of his stories, talent, and achievements. This man has been such an inspiration to so many far beyond what even he could have imagined!
David truly loves what he does with/for music. He enjoys using his many talents to enrich the public, as well as other talented musicians, vocalists, and students. Although his passion is performing on the piano, he is also quite a passionate professional educator. He enjoys story telling through lectures using his vast acquired knowledge on the history of jazz, and many great musicians who have set the foundation for music!
As an expert in this field, David is known for being a very responsible, reliable, and well respected person. He provides a variety of music services through his company, DLJ Music Services, LLC, and continues to garner recognition and become in-demand for the skills he’s able to offer.
— Unnamed Author
Music Chose Me
Music discovered David early in his youth - an undeniable love right from the start.
From the age of 5, music filled his world, curious to discover the calling of his heart and mind. The thirst to create music soon began by exploring various instruments, which eventually led him to the piano. Ultimately, a marriage with his chosen instrument blossomed into delivering joyful and skilled music gifts to others.
Jazz music, in particular, captured his heart and soul - tapping and playing to every rhythm and beat spilling out of him.
From playing to composing, music was undeniable! Music became the his world. The world he continues to share and provide to this day with all ages and stations in life.
Below are brief summaries highlighting the many facets of his musical and entertainment skills and services. David continues to pursue his scholarly education, contributions, and ideas with music, while balancing to cultivate his business.
— Unnamed Author
Scholar & Author
Dr. David Lee Joyner holds a PhD in Musicology and has held a fascination with the history and cultural significance of jazz and American popular music since high school.
He has done original research in many areas, published articles and books, and loves to share his knowledge as both a university professor and as a public speaker.
Educator
The greatest gift one can give is to share gained knowledge. David Lee Joyner has always delighted in sharing his knowledge of performing, history, and technology with those of any age. Through college teaching, band directing, jazz camps, festival clinics, and one-on-one lessons, David has mentored hundreds, if not thousands, of students over the years.
Performer
Making and presenting music is what it’s all about. Whether in the role of a “sideman” support musician or a headliner, David displays his versatility as a pianist and vocalist in both intimate settings as well as large venues.
Composer & Arranger
David Lee Joyner holds two degrees in music composition and has composed original music and written arrangements of existing works since high school. He is in constant demand for commissioned work by acts across the country.
Compositions have ranged from solos, to trios, to big band arrangements, to as large as a 100 vocal choir and orchestra performance.
Producer
David not only performs at events, but also makes them happen. He has contracted numerous musical events including 18 years of a summer jazz concert series and a live radio holiday show.
Lecturer
Dr. Joyner is a storyteller, and presenting the history of music and musicians is telling the story of his own musical ancestors. His presentations are intentionally fun and lively, exhibiting his own excitement of discovery and appreciation of his musical heroes and the cultures and places that produced them. His lectures are an entertaining combination of stories with live music performed.
Biography Highlights
Career
David Lee Joyner (formerly Deacon-Joyner), Ph.D., has over forty years experience as a pianist, vocalist, composer, arranger, program producer, conductor, published scholar, public lecturer, and educator.
The Entrepreneur
David is a freelance entrepreneur in his music business, DLJ Music Services, LLC He also teaches jazz piano lessons through the Community Music Program at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. David serves on the Board of Directors for the Tacoma/Seattle public radio station KNKX, and is a “red badge” volunteer for the Living Stones Prison Congregation at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, Washington.
Growing Up
David grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, a city with a remarkable musical history and home to such legends as W. C. Handy, Jimmie Lunceford, Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes, Al Green, and jazzmen such as Booker Little, George Coleman, Charles Lloyd, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Marvin Stamm, and David’s mentor, pianist James Williams.
David attended Hillcrest High School and was a member of its jazz band, The Norsemen, one of the finest high school jazz bands of its day, winning 2nd place at the 1971 Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival and 1st place at the 1974 Mobile (Alabama) National Jazz Festival. The band toured Romania for three weeks in 1973. During this time, David honed his skills as a pianist, composer/arranger, bandleader, and record producer.
The Scholar
David earned his Bachelor’s Degree in composition from the University of Memphis, studying piano and composition from Donald Freund. He earned a Master’s Degree in composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), studying with Jonathan Kramer. As a graduate assistant at CCM, David wrote arrangements for the UC marching band (sharing duties with composer (then fellow student) Randol Bass, assisted Frank Brown with directing the jazz band, and teaching jazz history as part of the new jazz studies major. He returned to Memphis to earn his PhD in musicology, specializing in music of the southern United States. During this time, he continued to direct college jazz ensembles, teach the jazz history course (as part of U of M’s new jazz studies major program). He was also a major part of the Memphis jazz and commercial music scene, performing for legends such as Bob Hope, Danny Thomas, Henry Mancini, Bob Newhart and working full-time as a staff vocalist at a broadcast music production house that made 75 percent of the English-speaking radio jingles and corporate show music in the world.
Immediately upon completing his doctorate in 1986, David was hired as a full-time faculty member of the legendary jazz program at the University of North Texas in Denton (UNT). As a jazz scholar, he taught undergraduate and graduate-level jazz history courses, directed the Jazz Repertory Lab Band, and co-taught electronic music production and The Zebras fusion ensemble with jazz education legend and fellow faculty member Dan Haerle. During his fourteen-year tenure at UNT, David also distinguished himself as a jazz scholar, publishing a textbook on “American Popular Music,” first published in 1993 and still in print, now in its third edition. He also had other refereed articles and book chapters published, including a chapter in The Cambridge History of American Music, from Cambridge (England) University Press. He presented papers at scholarly conferences hosted by The Society For American Music, The College Music Society, and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. He is an authority on the Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan arrangements for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra of the 1940s and consulted in three editions of the music and an album by the Dutch Jazz Orchestra. Some of his UNT students have gone on to international fame, including singer Norah Jones, drummer Keith Carlock (Steely Dan), trumpeter Adolfo Acosta (Tower of Power), and Michael Cogswell (curator of the Louis Armstrong Museum and Archive at Queen’s College in New York), just to name a very few.
Pi Kappa Lambda
As a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Society, since 1985, it’s been my honor to follow in their mission of educating, supporting, and promoting the music industry I love so much at the highest levels possible!
University Faculty
In 2000, David was lured by the charm of the Pacific Northwest and moved to the region, accepting the position of Associate Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, Washington. He soon became an in-demand part of the music scene along the Interstate 5 corridor of Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, Washington. His University Jazz Ensemble performed for the annual Christmas Jam live radio broadcast for twenty years on jazz radio station KPLU (now KNKX) and toured Scandinavia, China, Australia, Spain, and Portugal. For eighteen years, David also produced and occasionally performed on PLU’s summer professional jazz concert series Jazz Under the Stars. He has performed with local legends such as vocalists Greta Matassa and Gail Pettis, and instrumentalists such as Tracy Knoop, Jay Thomas, Bill Ramsay, Chuck Deardorf, and his “A team” trio members, bassist Clipper Anderson and drummer Mark Ivester.
Composure & Arranger
As a composer and arranger, David has written commissioned works performed by:
the symphony orchestras in Memphis, Jackson (Tennessee), Midland, Dallas, and College Station (Texas), Des Moines (Iowa),
wind ensembles such as The Metropolitan Winds (Dallas) and Utah State University, and jazz ensembles at the University of Cincinnati,
Caleb Chapman’s Crescent City Jazz Band and Chapman/Osborn Jazz Orchestra (Salt Lake City, UT), Vaughn Wiester’s Columbus (Ohio) Jazz Orchestra, and the Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School jazz ensemble (Nashville).
Adjudicator & Instructor
David has adjudicated jazz festivals across the United States, including the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Idaho, and Washington. He also conducts jazz workshops for directors and students. He was lead instructor for the Great Basin Jazz Camp for four years, with a faculty that included Los Angeles legends Carl Saunders, Bruce Forman, and Scott Whitfield.
Presenter & Lecturer
David loves presenting fun and accessible public lectures, particularly for senior communities. In this setting, he has presented Lecture/Performances on topics and artists in jazz and popular music such as:
the Swing Era;
Ladies Sing the Blues;
and the music of Tin Pan Alley legends such as Harry Warren and Frank Loesser.
Click link for complete Curriculum Vitae.