A native of Colorado, JoJo David grew up on the timeless sounds of Sixties folk, classic Motown & Blue Note, and Seventies radio, from Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder to Elton John and Johnny Hartmann. David eventually headed East to New York City, where he soon found his way into the studio as a session vocalist, and into Bleeker Street bars as a cover song/cocktail hour singer. He migrated to Boston, where he began to build his following singing with Five O'Clock Shadow and quickly working his way into Berklee College of Music studio sessions. His 2004 collection of jazz tinged ballads, "Small Hours", made its way onto local jazz radio playlists as well as garnering acclaim from radio legend Ron Della Chiesa, "...David's lyric voice caresses the music. You feel when you listen to him that he's lived the stories - he knows how to phrase. This album captures loneliness beautifully."

Small Hours Album Info

"Birnbaum's playing is exquisite, and David's lyric voice caresses the music. You feel when you listen to him that he's lived the stories...The great songwriters were poets; in order to interpret what they were saying, you have to sing it as poetry. David takes the opportunities he has to do that - he knows how to phrase. This album captures loneliness beautifully."

Ron Della Chiesa
Host, "The Jazz Songbook," WGBH Boston


For his debut recording, Boston vocalist JoJo David teams up with extraordinary pianist Adam Birnbaum to create an intimate and timeless collection of classic and destined-to-be-classic ballads. David gets to the heart of every lyric, delivering each emotion and vulnerability as if experienced in real time. The context is masterfully set with Birnbaum's playing, always tasteful, and in captivating dialogue with the melody.

From its title, "Small Hours" shares the same fabric of Frank Sinatra's innovative concept album "In the Wee Small Hours." The first track wraps the listener up in those "small" moments from the beginning of the CD and takes the listener on a tour of sublime throughout the album. David and Birnbaum take meticulous care with their arrangements and performances to get to the heart of the messages. In the standards "Imagination," "But Beautiful", and "In the Wee Small Hours", the oft discarded and rarely heard verses to theses standards are resurrected and made essential to the matter here. Birnbaum takes a fresh interpretation of the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers," stretching its time while David indulges his beautiful tone in the soaring melody. They take John Hiatt's "Have A Little Faith" to an inspired turn with the blues. Birnbaum presents a haunting rendition of "Here's That Rainy Day", and with the hidden gems "Colors" and "Little Prayer", David reveals his wide-open heart and musical grace.