Dave Kluge is a multifaceted bassist, composer and educator from Rochester, N.Y. He is driven by creative storytelling and artistic expression through music. He has received commissions from The Penfield Music Commission Project for music featuring Micheal Dease, Christian Howes and Gabe Condon as well as “PRISM: American History through New Music,” which received National Endowment for the Arts funding. His compositions have been premiered by The Eastman CMS Educators Jazz Ensemble at The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, The ECMS Educators String Orchestra at Kilbourn Hall, The Hochstein Alumni Orchestra, and All-County Honors orchestras, jazz ensembles and choirs.

As an active freelance bassist, he performs with a wide variety of ensembles and can be heard on The Russell Scarbrough Big Band Album Fun Times (2023). His string quartet Windmills (2022) is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms, as well as in print at JW Pepper. In 2018, he performed on and engineered the album Doug Stone Jam Session 1 and produced several live video performances with his own band, The Dave Kluge Quintet, which can be found on his YouTube channel.

Kluge earned a BM in Music Education with a concentration in Jazz Studies from SUNY Fredonia and an MS in Music Education from Nazareth College. From 2007-2013 he taught instrumental music in the West Irondequoit Central School District. Since 2013, he has taught in the Rush-Henrietta Central School District where he serves as senior high school Orchestra Director.