'Herbie Hancock-esque...(Riddel's) music is beautifully expressed—intricate and cerebral while remaining engaging and cohesive..'' - All About Jazz

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'Riddel’s guitar playing is marvelous.. and includes soaring single note lines, beautiful wide intervallic solo playing..and genre-less musical improvisations.' - The Whole Note

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David Riddel is a Toronto-based guitarist and composer. Since graduating from the jazz studies program at the University of Toronto in 2016, he has recorded and performed extensively across Canada and internationally with some of Canada's most notable musicians. Riddel  has been  awarded multiple grants from  the Ontario Arts Council, including the Chalmers  Professional Development grant, with which he studied in Amsterdam with renowned Dutch guitarist and composer Reiner Baas.

 His second original album ''The Consumption: A Tragic Folktale in Six Parts'' was released in March 2025 to critical acclaim.

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In addition to his work as a leader, Riddel is an in-demand sideman, whose work with Chelsea McBride’s big band, ethereal vocalist Laura Swankey, Canadian sax-hero Colleen Allen, Vancouver avant-garde harpist Elisa Thorn, among others, has earned him praise from jazz critics in Canada and the United States. Riddel has performed at the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Edmonton Jazz festival, the Calgary Jazz Festival, the Halifax Jazz Festival and more.