Dave Dreiwitz (born January 2, 1966) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

for the bands Ween and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.

Biography

Dave Dreiwitz was born on January 2, 1966, in New York City, New York to traditional jazz musician parents, Richard and Barbara Dreiwitz. His father plays trombone and his mother plays tuba. In 1983, at the age of seventeen, after a short time on trumpet in Mod Fun, Dreiwitz joined the

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

–based

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band

Tiny Lights Tiny Lights was a music group formed in Hoboken, New Jersey by John Hamilton (musician, scholar), John Hamilton (guitar/vocals) and Donna Croughn (vocals/electric violin) in 1985. Original members include Dave Dreiwitz (bass/trumpet), Jane Scarp ...

, his first professional band out of high school. In 1986, while attending

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he met fellow schoolmate and drummer Scott Byrne and through a love of similar music, they started the rock band Instant Death in 1991. Instant Death dissolved with the passing of Byrne in 2005. In 1997, Dreiwitz joined Ween. Dreiwitz is also a member of Joe Russo's Almost Dead, The Dean Ween Group and the

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

instrumental tribute band, Bustle in Your Hedgerow. He occasionally plays bass with Chris Harford and the Band of Changes, Old Rugged Sauce as well as in his own drum and bass duo, Crescent Moon, which features Dreiwitz on bass and vocals alongside various guest drummers. Crescent Moon drummers have included Claude Coleman of Ween,

Tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

from the

Sound of Urchin The Sound of Urchin (Sound Of Urchin / SOU / TSOU / Urchin) is a musically diverse " outsider arena-rock" band from Brooklyn, New York and New Hope, Pennsylvania. SOU is known for their eclectic songs, for energetic, spontaneous live shows, and ...

, Eric Slick of Dr. Dog and Joe Russo of Furthur. Dreiwitz has also performed with the Moistboyz, The

Marco Benevento Marco Benevento (born July 22, 1977) is an American pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who has been a fixture of the New York experimental music rock music, rock and jazz scene since 1999. He is the founder and rec ...

Trio, The Gene Ween Band, Andrew Weiss, Mark Mulcahy, Russell Batiste,

Billy Martin Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989) was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yankees. First known ...

, Johnny Vidacovich, Lunar Bear Ensemble with John Lunar Richey, John Kruth, Peter Stampfel of

The Holy Modal Rounders The Holy Modal Rounders was an American folk music group, originally the duo of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, who formed in 1963 on the Lower East Side of New York City. Although they achieved only limited commercial and critical success in ...

, Fishermen's Stew,

Brook Benton Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), known professionally as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter whose music transcended rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres in the 1950s and 1960s, with ...

, Hal Willner,

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

, John S. Hall, King Missile (Dog Fly Religion), Jack Petruzzelli, Greg Di Gesu,

Robert Musso Robert Musso is a New York City-based guitarist, composer, engineer, and producer. He is the founder of the independent record label MuWorks as well as the record label - MussoMusic.com. Over the course of a 40 - year career, Musso has produced, mix ...

Trio, Clem Snide,

Joan Osborne Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including rock, pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best kn ...

and

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. It was active from 1995 until Linkous's 2010 death. Before forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands Johnson Fa ...

. Dreiwitz has played bass every year in the core band for The Complete Last Waltz annual rock concert performance since the inaugural show in 2012.

Equipment

*Fender Precision Bass *Bass 1980

Rickenbacker 4001 The Rickenbacker 4001 is an bass guitar, electric bass that was manufactured by Rickenbacker as a two-Pickup (music technology), pickup "deluxe" version of their first production bass, the single-pickup model 4000. This design, created by Roger ...

* Gibson EB-3 *Rig

Gallien-Krueger Gallien-Krueger, also referred to as 'GK' (as in their logo), is a manufacturer of bass amplifiers and speaker cabinets. The company is based in Stockton, California, and was founded in 1968. History Robert Gallien started his company, th ...

800RB head, Acoustic 2x15 cabinet * Ampeg SVT,

Ampeg Ampeg ("amplified peg") is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guit ...

8x10 cabinet

References

Sources

Dave Dreiwitz : On Taking It To The Stage – Jimmy Leslie, Bass Player Magazine
January 1, 2010
Bustle In Your Hedgerow review
November 29, 2008

External links

Joe Russo's Almost Dead
official website
Old Rugged Sauce
Facebook
Ween
official website Musical groups from New Brunswick, New Jersey 1966 births American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Living people Tiny Lights members Ween members American male guitarists Joe Russo's Almost Dead members 20th-century American bass guitarists {{US-bass-guitarist-stub