Music
I write songs, record and produce music, and perform both with bands and as a solo artist. I have always been drawn to music because it gives us an experience we can feel, whether by relating to lyrics, moving with melodies, or listening to unfamiliar ideas that we grow into. Music helps balance our lives by bringing us into different cultures, perspectives, and ways of feeling the world that expand how we understand life and keep it in us.
Why I play
My mission as a musician and songwriter is to bring together unique people through their common interest in music and show how sharing our experiences can strengthen a community. I want to create and fill environments with people who carry different perspectives and make each person feel included, connected, and part of the reason the performance is happening. I have performed at venues including auditoriums and coffee houses, and for events including Relay for Life annually with my band to support cancer research. I want to do more than perform; I want to help people channel feelings from joy to grief constructively into shared experiences that can empower and transform. A community sings together and for each other.
Merge Left
Featured Recording
That Song Yo was the finale of our setlist, and while there is also a studio recording, this live version says more because it captured the moment of pushing through the song.
Team Members
- Dave Podorefsky – Guitar and Vocals
- Todd Ashley – Tenor Saxophone and Keyboard
- Jack Farina – Drums and Cajón
- Mike Werner – Bass
- Alex Sellers – Alto Saxophone
Sound
Merge Left was an alternative rock band that experimented with elements of funk and jazz. Our debut performance was fully instrumental, opening with “What? The Funk!” to start the evolving wave of elastic groove. The experience transitions into “Uncle Felipe”, the sound of a smooth but worn cry for reckoning, then finishes with “Albuquerque”, a reversing pulse ascending bare into grunge. After more instruments joined the band, we built larger sound atmospheres, such as “That Song Yo”, a brittle awakening erupting into sirens of unleashed thunder. We did explore acoustic with “CSL”, where a perched tenor and an aspiring alto saxophone chatter about flight in a light breeze, though most of our music stayed electric.
Story
The band started as a duo in 2012 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts while Todd and I were collaborating on a project for the science fair. I played guitar and sang, Todd played piano, and Jack, the drummer from my former band, joined us to cover songs at a local gig and then a coffee house. I began writing instrumental music and building ideas off a loop pedal, Todd ditched the keyboard for a saxophone, and Jack continued to hold the title for best drummer in town. We went live for our debut performance under the stage name “Dtodd”. The band grew from there in members and dynamics. Mike, who always played bass guitar with my former band at performances, but never practiced with us, or was even a band member, finally joined and brought humor to rehearsal. Alex, a member of the jazz band, joined with another saxophone and showed up first to rehearsal to complete the team. We became “Merge Left”, named after a sign we always passed on the drive to our usual place for food. Together, we performed our music, won 1st place at Battle of the Bands, and appeared on television and the radio. Merge Left recorded music in local project studios, mastered its album at a recording studio in Boston, and created 2 music videos. In 2024, the band separated after the passing of a beloved member and friend, too early from disease.
Dave Podorefsky
Featured Recording
Shades of Teal (Acoustic)
Sound and Future Direction
I perform and produce music as a solo artist in addition to collaborations and leading Merge Left. My primary instrument is guitar, and I also play a variety of others including keyboard, drums, trumpet, harmonica, melodica, and vocals. My interest is now in “fast jazz”, with a sound influenced by my roots in alternative, rock, classical, funk, and jazz. In 2025, my arrangement of “Autumn Leaves” earned me my spot as an official artist on Ultimate Guitar, the world’s largest source of guitar tabs and chords. I now seek to join or start a new band that plays fast jazz at piano bars and lounges on weekends.
Upcoming Releases
In 2026, I am releasing all of my music from the past decade after a hiatus to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering. Live and studio recordings, demo tracks, video performances, tabs and arrangements, band stories, and photos will be released across YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Ultimate Guitar, and Podorefsky.com/music.
Music keeps memories alive that would otherwise fade away.
Additional Ventures
The Newport Yacht Project
The Duo
- Aidan J. A. Kenealy – Vocals
- Dave Podorefsky – Keyboard
Sound and Story
The Newport Yacht Project is an experimental group that creates noteworthy experiences with audiences by giving them a genre different from the usual. In 2013 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Aidan and I began discussing the “project” after Advanced Placement Calculus classes during our getaways to the local Chinese-Japanese buffet. We were always joined by Dan S., our favorite chemist and thereminist, who worked for the community television station. The topic of music came up during our conversation since I was preparing for a coffee house performance with Merge Left, and we thought of an idea for a duo. I had learned some piano from ear training on J.S. Bach’s chorales for Music Theory, and Aidan wanted to speak as the lyricist. We tested it on the piano in the practice room and knew it was going to work.
The coffee house began normally, and the performances had grown monotonous by the time someone covered “Hallelujah” yet again on acoustic guitar. We went on stage for our debut, bringing along a keyboard. Aidan took the mic, I pressed the play button to start the drum machine, and the room did not know what to expect. I played a soft piano melody, and Aidan began to sing between rap and spoken-word. The crowd went silent at first, listening, and then realized they were experiencing exactly what the moment needed, an act they had not seen before. They started a strong and steady clap, changing alive and cheering. Today, we are working on expanding our brand beyond music.
Last Minute
I was warming up backstage with musicians from other bands, playing guitar together to practice before we each went on. I played along with a song from another group’s setlist, adding guitar where it could lift their sound. They asked if I wanted to join “Last Minute”, and I said yes to the opportunity in the moment. We stepped on stage together after little rehearsal and saw an audience ready to listen to whatever we had to play. I improvised the lead guitar part, went into a solo, and felt the thrill of living through the music. Dan S. was up on the balcony operating a video camera and audio mixing console, captured the whole performance, and broadcast it on television. It was a fun collaboration, and I continued to perform with Last Minute at 2 coffee houses.