Bassguy profile picture

Bassguy

About Me

My name is Dave Vergato. I am a professional bass player (Upright and Electric) currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina. I am originally from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area suburbs. I did my undergraduate at the University of Miami in Studio Music and Jazz Bass Performance (from 1996-2000). I have extensive performance experience. While I was in college at UM, I played with a band called "The Tallboys Blues Band", and I occasionally played with the groups "Bambi and the Boys" and "The Jumpstreet 88's". I also performed with several top ensembles at the school, including the "Bop Brothers Ensemble", "Studio Jazz Band", and "Jazz Vocal 1". Some other notable performances I did in South Florida include a concert series with the Naples Philharmonic and gigs with local jazz legend Ira Sullivan. For my first year and a half after college I spent some time in NYC and played for a theater in Media, PA. I also worked for a while on some of Royal Caribbean's cruise ships including the Splendour of the Seas, which cruised from South America to Europe. I relocated to Charlotte in late 2001 when I was offered a job to play at a swing dance club, called "Swing 1000". Although the club closed about a year later, I decided to call Charlotte home for a while and networked my way into the local music scene. For nearly four years I worked in the area's largest local music store (Mars Music and later Sam Ash Music), where I earned the nickname "Bassguy". In the Fall of 2005, I quit my job at the music store and began the graduate program at UNC Charlotte, working on a teaching license in Music Education (K-12), and eventually the Master's of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. Since 2006 I have taught K-12 music full time at a small private school during the day, but I continue to play professionally on nights and weekends. Currently I play a wide variety of freelance jazz, rock, church, and theater gigs in Charlotte and the surrounding areas. My mains gigs are with the Mark Stallings Trio every Thursday at Sullivan's Steakhouse, and with the Hickory Grove Baptist Church worship team every Sunday. I have played in numerous other bands over the years including the blues/rock band "Full Grown" led by my friend Matt Hatfield (www.myspace.com/matthatfield), the jazz fusion band "Airstream" (www.myspace.com/airstreamjazzfusion), and the incredible jazz/funk jam band, "Punk Jazz Project" (www.myspace.com/punkjazzproject). Other notable performances include the Charlotte Symphony Pops, the jazz vocal group "Five By Design", "Charlotte Squawks" (an annual musical comedy spoof about life in Charlotte), MorningStar Fellowship Church, the Carolina Voices, a jazz duo gig at Harry & Jean's Restaurant in Rock Hill, SC, and various musical productions at Actor's Theatre of Charlotte and Theatre Charlotte. If you're looking for a bass player of my experience to lay down some grooves on your next album or for an upcoming gig, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. You should create your own MySpace Layouts like me by using nUCLEArcENTURy .COM's MySpace Profile Editor !You are 100% Pittsburgh.

Great job! There's nooooo doubt about it. You're from Da Burgh. You deserve a reward, so go have an Ahrn City or two. And GO STILLERS!
How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 08/10/2005
Band Website: You are looking at it!
Band Members: Myself--Freelance bassist, Upright and Electric bass.MARK STALLINGS TRIO: Mark Stallings--Piano/Keyboards, Rick Murray--Drums/Vocals, Dave Vergato--BassesHICKORY GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH: Kevin Goldbach--Guitar, Noel Freidline--Keyboards, Jimmy Elswick--Drums, Dave Vergato--Basses, & the Hickory Grove Orchestra and ChoirPREVIOUS BANDS--FULLGROWN: Angie Rikard--Vocals, Matt Hatfield--Vocals/Rhythm Guitar, Jeremy Shaw--Lead Guitar/Vocals, Troy Conn--Lead Guitar, Curtis Wingfield--Drums, Taylor Caton--Drums, Jakubu Griffin--Drums, Dave Vergato--BassesAIRSTREAM: Andre Ferreri--Guitar, Mark Stallings--Keyboards, Al Sergel--Drums, Dave Vergato--BassesPUNK JAZZ PROJECT: Michael Finnican--Guitar/Flute, Troy Conn--Guitars, Taylor Caton--Drums/Keys, Dave Vergato--Basses
Influences: Ray Brown, Milt Hinton, Paul Chambers, Chris Wood, Jaco Pastorius, Adam Nitti, Jacky Terrason, and EST, Beethoven, Francois Rabbath, Abraham Laboriel, and many more...
Sounds Like:
Record Label: Unsigned--Who wants to sign me up?
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

IAJE

I just received the awful news that the International Association for Jazz Education has gone bankrupt and will no longer exist.  I had the opportunity to go to the conferences in NYC in 2006 and...
Posted by on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:58:00 GMT

Finding a House

Well, maybe I should have posted a blog on here a while back.... Just want to tell everyone that this will be the year I buy my first house.  In just 3 weeks I'll be closing on my first house.&nb...
Posted by on Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:20:00 GMT

Gigs

So I just received word from my favorite jazz pianist (Dr. John Valerio from Columbia, SC) that I'm losing my Saturday duo gig with him in Rock Hill at Harry & Jean's.  Business has been...
Posted by on Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:29:00 GMT

Punk Jazz Project

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm keeping the Punk Jazz Project MySpace page alive even though the band has broken up.  Pics and MP3s are on there, as well as our bio.  Now that...
Posted by on Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:09:00 GMT

Airstream's MySpace page--please read

Hello everyone, If you're viewing my profile, you can see that I'm the bass player for an incredible fusion band in Charlotte called Airstream.  We have finally been able to upload some MP3s to o...
Posted by on Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:02:00 GMT

Dore Academy

Well, it's official.  Beginning August 10th, 2006, I'm officially the new music teacher at Dore Academy.  Dore Academy is a special private school in Charlotte in the Myers Park neighbo...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:59:00 GMT

Work, school, music

Well, this is a follow up to my last blog about Duquesne.  I got accepted!  But, I didn't get the graduate assistantship, which means it will be financially unwise to go up to the 'Burgh thi...
Posted by on Sun, 07 May 2006 09:41:00 GMT

Pittsburgheze

Pittsburgheze Ah yes!  "Picksburgh." Yunz are from Picksburgh if: 1.  You didn't have a spring break in high school. 2.  You walk carefully when it is "slippy" outside. 3.  You of...
Posted by on Sat, 15 Apr 2006 19:42:00 GMT

Duquesne University/CMU/Pittsburgh

Well, for those of you that don't know, I'm hoping to return/move back to Pittsburgh over the Summer to transfer to a graduate program there.  My former mentor Dave Pellow, who is the D...
Posted by on Sat, 01 Apr 2006 08:40:00 GMT

Steelers Fever

Think about this the next time someone argues that a professional sports franchise is not important to a city's identity:  In the 1980's, as the steel mills and their supporting factori...
Posted by on Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:56:00 GMT