# Pianist and composer Danny Green has garnered a reputation in the jazz community as an emerging artist

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/09/10/pianist-composer-danny-green-garnered-reputation-jazz-community-emerging-artist/
- Published: 2017-09-10T21:38:30+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**10.09. – Happy Birthday !!! Pianist and composer Danny Green has garnered a reputation
in the jazz community as an emerging artist whose music sounds simultaneously seasoned
and fresh. **

Showcasing a brilliant blend of jazz, Brazilian, Latin, and classical elements, 
Green’s music engages listeners with evocative melodies and infectious rhythms. 
According to JazzReview.com, “Danny Green is what evolution in jazz is all about,
expressing the traits of those that came before him, with a style and panache that
is all his own…an individual who expresses what is inside of him.”   A Southern 
California native, Green began studying classical piano at the age of five. His 
passion for music was apparent early on — his parents had to pull him away from 
the piano at his first recital. As they tugged him by his right hand, he continued
playing with his left hand. At the age of twelve, Green grew disenchanted with reading
music and quit lessons. He taught himself to play by ear and spent the next two 
years only playing Nirvana. Toward the end of high school, he fell in love with 
Afro Cuban music, which led to his discovery of Brazilian music and eventually jazz.
Green resumed his formal training at UC San Diego, where he studied jazz piano with
Grammy-winning producer Kamau Kenyatta and classical piano with John Mark Harris
and Luciane Cardassi. He performed the first jazz honors recital at UCSD and received
the Jimmy Cheatham Jazz Award. Green continued his education by pursuing a Master’s
degree in Jazz Studies at San Diego State University, where he studied jazz piano
with Rick Helzer. He was awarded several scholarships and named “Outstanding Graduate.”
In 2013, Green was honored as an “Alumni to Watch” from SDSU’s School of Music and
Dance.   Hailed as “one of the important up-and-comers on the scene today” by All
About Jazz, Green is one of the most prolific and talented jazz pianists in the 
San Diego area. Maintaining a busy performance schedule as leader of the Danny Green
Trio, Green has performed at notable venues, series, and festivals across the county,
including the WhyNot Jazz Room (NYC), Anthology (San Diego), The Blue Whale (LA),
Vibrato Jazz Grill (LA), Red Poppy Art House (San Francisco), The Loft @ UCSD, Steamer’s
Jazz Club (Fullerton), KSDS Jazz 88.3’s Jazz Live, the Athenaeum Music and Arts 
Library, the Oceanside Museum of Art, CSU Summer Arts Monterey, the Integrity Jazz
festival in North Dakota, TEDxUCSD, and the KSDS Jazz 88.3 Ocean Beach Jazz Festival.
He has also been chosen to be a resident artist in the San Diego Museum of Art’s
Summer Residency Project.   Green revealed his unique talents on his 2009 debut 
recording With You In Mind, which won “Best Jazz Album” at the 2009 San Diego Music
Awards. In 2012, Green teamed up with Tapestry Records to release A Thousand Ways
Home, featuring Justin Grinnell on bass, Julien Cantelm on drums, and Tripp Sprague
on sax, as well as a talented cast of guest artists inducing guitarists Chico Pinheiro,
Peter Sprague, and Dusty Brough, Brazilian vocalist Claudia Villela, and mandolinist
Eva Scow. That album was voted into KSDS Jazz 88.3’s “Top Ten Jazz Releases of 2012,”
and was nominated “Best Jazz Album” at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards.   In 2014,
the Danny Green Trio, comprised of Green, Grinnell, and Cantelm, released the highly-
acclaimed album After The Calm on OA2 Records. Featuring ten of Green’s compositions,
the album received much praise from the press and nationwide radio play. JazzWax
described the album as “A highly impressive album that will knock you out,” and 
the San Diego Troubadour called it, “Unconditionally recommended to anyone who appreciates
good jazz, instrumental music or soundtracks.” After The Calm won “Best Jazz Album”
at the 2015 San Diego Music Awards and was nominated for “Album of the Year.”

The trio recorded their latest album at New York City’s famed Sear Sound studio 
with award-winning producer Matt Pierson. The album consists of eleven original 
compositions by Green, three of which feature a string quartet joining the trio.
Entitled Altered Narratives, the album will be released in March 2016 on OA2 Records.
Green is also highly devoted to music education. In addition to teaching private
lessons, he is a faculty member of the annual Jazz 88.3 Summer Jazz Workshop, directs
the jazz combo at Coronado School of the Arts, and presents a jazz appreciation 
workshop at elementary schools as part of the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library’s
outreach program. Green has also taught piano courses at Grossmont Community College
and San Diego City College, and has been an artist in residence at Canyon Crest 
Academy and at CSU Summer Arts Monterey.

##### Awards

Jimmy Cheatham Jazz Award (UCSD) – 2004

Best Jazz Album – 2009 San Diego Music Awards Outstanding Graduate Student – SDSU–
2011 Best Jazz Album (Nomination) – 2013 San Diego Music Awards Best Jazz Artist(
Nomination) – 2014 San Diego Music Jazz Awards Alumni to Watch – SDSU School of 
Music and Dance Best Jazz Album – 2015 San Diego Music Awards Album of the Year (
Nomination) – 2015 San Diego Music Awards Artist of the Year (Nomination) – 2015
San Diego Music Awards.

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