David James Martinez

By: Mike Beggs

October 14, 2008 01:04 PM - Playing this and every second Saturday at the Port Credit Starbucks, David James Martinez frames his “acoustic soul/pop” songs with training in classical and jazz music.
The 22-year-old Etobicoke resident falls in the chillin’ realm of John Mayer, Jack Johnson, and Norah Jones — but he digs deeper. About the only emotion missing from his arsenal is rage. “I want to create an array of colours,” he says, “(to) play right across the board. It’s hard these days, because a lot of people categorize you as just this or that.”
Martinez kicked off his last show with a great take on the Damien Rice nugget Volcanoes — his lone cover of the night. But the standards didn’t slip. Showcasing songs off last year’s four-song debut EP 21, and new songs (Waterside, Together Again), he proves to be a fluid acoustic guitarist, and engaging singer/songwriter. “As my manager puts it, it’s almost as if I take the listener on a journey,” he says. “I bring them in with the vocals, and from there the story just unfolds.”
The Mississauga native was playing piano by the age of seven. He switched to guitar while in Grade 11 at John Cabot Secondary. His two years of music studies at Laurentian University are balanced out by two years in the culinary arts program at Cordon Bleu school in Ottawa. He still works as a short order cook.
So, is there a corollary between music and cooking?
“You know what? The studies show you do use the same part of the brain, because (cooking) does take some creativity,” he offers.
In the past year Martinez has done some traveling and playing abroad, when not lighting up Toronto coffee houses like Starbucks. He’s joined by Alex Furtado (guitar), and David Yoon (djembe, auxiliary percussion). “We’ve been getting pretty good turnouts,” he says. “I really like the atmosphere. It’s kind of eye-to-eye level.”
The gig goes at 8 p.m. at Starbucks, 111 Lakeshore Rd. W. (just west of the Credit River) - Mississauga News