[1] Bowman was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where he learned to play piano as a four year old.
[2] After returning to the United States he settled in New York and played with Bobby Hackett, Sharkey Bonano, Sidney Bechet, and Bud Freeman late in the decade.
[2] In the early 1940s, he worked with Jack Teagarden, Joe Marsala, Muggsy Spanier, Lee Wiley, and Eddie Condon.
[2] He took positions with ABC and NBC in the later 1940s[2] (including with Perry Como) and worked as a studio musician on recordings.
[2] Dave Bowman died in an automobile accident in December 1964, in Miami, Florida.