[4] He formed the "David Braid Sextet" in 1999 with John MacLeod on trumpet; Mike Murley on saxophone; Gene Smith on trombone, Steve Wallace on bass, and Terry Clarke on drums.

Although Braid developed a reputation as one of the country's most celebrated jazz players, he began moving in a different direction with a solo piano album of original compositions called, "Verge.

Braid's approach to work with Sinfonia UK Collective was the focus of a paper on democratic authorship that was presented at the Reflective Conservatoire Conference in February 2015 (Guildhall School of Music and Drama).

In that paper, Dr Lee Tsang offered models of democratic authorship and used Braid's work as an example of one of a number of approaches that the Sinfonia UK Collective (formerly Hull Sinfonietta) had undertaken since 2004.

[11] David Braid is also the recipient of the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry (2016)[12] Tsang has been a close collaborator, as conductor, baritone and writer of original texts.