Haag Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Department is used to perform in the lower level of El Camino College’s Music Building. This hall has various applied music classes, music ensembles and more. The capacity of the hall is 180 seats and it has tiered burgundy and silver seats.

Across from the seated students, the professor and guests sit in the recital hall. The jazz improvisation performers are getting prepared as the students are talking and playing instruments. The recital hall has a theatrical light and sound studio, and light booth. A grand piano, drums, microphone and Tyrolean bass violin sit next to the speaker on stage. Band performances for the ECC Concert Jazz band and ECC Jazz ensemble take place in Marsee Auditorium at the end of the semester.

The music director is a tall, slender man who is dressed in a navy blue button-up shirt with a green diamond shape pattern.  He has a laid-back attitude. He has blue eyes and wears square spectacles with a leopard design. He completes his outfits by wearing dark blue pants, black and gray New Balance sneakers, and a cotton gray flat cap on this specific occasion. He has a ring on his left hand and his tone is assured.

Assistant Professor of Music David Moyer, 42, is the director of jazz studies and instrumental music at El Camino, and he is dedicated to his students and the music program.

“When I got a teaching call to come and teach at El Camino I was so over the moon about this opportunity. I love the fact that this is such a diverse place. It’s very comfortable for me because this is where I grew up. It feels like home. When I hear about former students really living in their potential, that’s a highlight,” David says.

David is a Grammy Award-winning musician who played saxophone on Jimmy Cliff’s collaboration with punk singer Iggy Pop on their Grammy-winning 2012 album “Rebirth.” He is also a member of D.D. Horns (David and Danny Horns) with Danny T. Levin with whom he has recorded for Twenty One Pilots. He was nominated twice in the same year. D.D. Horns worked with mainstream artists like Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Mike Bloom and many more.

David went to the University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California. He received his Bachelor of Arts in music performance at UCLA. He also received a Master of Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts in jazz studies at USC.

He lives in Culver City with his wife Andrea Lee and his dog Luna.

“It’s a lot of work behind the scenes that people tend to see. I think the big challenges (are) just time, being able to balance personal life, family life, music outside of teaching with teaching,” David says.

He began his musical career while growing up with his grandparents. When David was younger, he only listened to hip hop and jazz. His father and grandmother had a significant influence on him. David’s grandparents were both musicians and his father adored music. He wasn’t really fond of music. Until he went to Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, that’s when he joined the Music Academy and basketball was his main emphasis.

“I really fell in love with a great baritone saxophone player named Pepper Adams at an early age and spent a long time studying his music a lot. He started to realize that he’s actually pretty good at this,” David says.

His grandfather was a violinist, while his grandmother was a pianist. They’d have fun together. His father is a huge music fan who has a record collection, goes on family road trips, prepares mixtapes, selects albums and records them on the set. In primary school, he was always interested in music. David was a fan of late-eighties and early-nineties music, particularly metal and hip-hop.

“I feel very fortunate to have great parents, older brother and grandparents that helped raise me and introduced me to music. I have good memories of my childhood. They were definitely challenging. It wasn’t easy all the time, but it was pretty good,” David says.

David embraced his wonderful childhood as great memories, but life isn’t always perfect. Maintaining the passion for music during the pandemic has been extremely hard. David is excited to be on campus after a two year hiatus, teaching online, and finally returning to teach in person.

“Before the pandemic they did some off-campus gigs at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach. It was a lot of fun being able to make music in person (again) after two years over Wi-Fi,” David says.

Returning to campus after the shutdown and being able to lead and perform with the band in person has been a thrill and a challenge for David.

“One of the biggest challenges is just balancing teaching, my own music to practice and staying motivated everyday. I’m reminded of the difference I’m making in people’s lives,” David says.

Students adore the fact that he educates them more about the history of jazz music, which can be traced back to African roots and is fused with European influences in New Orleans, which like any other form of American music, has a strong African influence. He’s both supportive and educated, which are ideal characteristics for a learning environment.

“Work hard if someone is doing the same thing you’re doing, the same instrument or whatever it is you’re doing and they’re working harder than you, so out work them. You have to work,” David says.

Lemar Guillory is a former student from El Camino College. Lemar played the trombone and David played the saxophone when they were together in USC’s Thornton Jazz Orchestra and Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, as well as in bands including John Beasley’s MONK’estra and Aloe Blacc. Their most recent collaboration was a horn passage orchestrated by Kamasi Washington for Florence & The Machine’s “High As Hope’’.

“He’s a cool dedicated professional, a great player and talented,” Lemar says.

Danny and David have over 20 years of playing instruments and knowing each other, since they were roommates at UCLA. They met in college in the late ’90s where they both received a BA for music performance in 2002. David and Danny performed with the back up artist Baby Stone, daughter of Sly Stone.

“The music market is like a competition with other musicians and horn players strive to approach it as a team effort, as a casting call for a few festivals,” Danny says.

D.D. Horns has their music available for streaming on Bandcamp. Bandcamp is an online platform that allows musicians and artists to store, distribute and sell their music and merchandise. They were listed on Bandcamp’s monthly curated Best New Jazz in March 2017.

D.D. Horns’ accomplishments in 2017 were best new release of the month, radio station top ten and end of the year list on 89.1 KMHD-FM in Oregon, D.D. Horn’s first record recognition.

‘‘As a person in music and close friend he’s very committed to his ideals and to doing things the way he does them, his views on music and jazz and how stuff should be done and is passionate about this stuff. He’s hilarious with a sense of humor and seeing eye to eye musically. He’s a good listener and able to read and react with good instinct,” Danny says.

David and Danny have a gift of effortlessly connecting music. They become an unstoppable force when they strive to add distinctive sounds and play with their instruments. D.D. Horns’ partnerships, on the other hand, have the potential to sustain instruments well together. They have a natural musical relationship that allows them to make sounds.

He goes above and beyond to ensure that his students understand what needs to be done in order to progress to the next level. He reaches out to the students and his peers and students say he does an excellent job of promoting growth and music.

“I feel like it’s a lot of students (that have) gone on to college and some of the students I taught are now in the professional world. Hearing about former students that are pursuing their dream and living their potential, I feel like that really is an accomplishment,” David says.

D.D. Horns Bandcamp: https://ddhorns.bandcamp.com/releases

Editor’s note: Story was updated for clarity on June 7, 2022, at 5:18 p.m.