Danilo Pérez, steps away
Danilo Pérez and most of humanity are within 6 degrees of each other. This matrix combines the small-world principle behind this seemingly magical fact with inter-artist recommendations-in-series in order to make all artists potential curators and discoverable within a handful (or two) of steps from everywhere on the planet. It works like this:
I RECOMMEND people (do you?)Danilo Pérez & degrees of proximity
Why again is Danilo Pérez mere steps away from other artists in here, and by extension, most everybody on the planet?
WHO CURATES "I RECOMMEND" ABOVE?
- Vertex/Edges Out by: The Matrix
Artist & Where
- Name: Danilo Pérez
- City/Place: Boston
- Country: United States
- Hometown: Panama
Current News
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What's Up?
“There is nothing small about Danilo Perez’s ambitions. The pianist wants nothing less than to create a Panamanian style of jazz composition.”
- JazzTimes
“Danilo Perez is a man with some serious jazz cred. The Panamanian pianist got his start playing with Dizzy Gillespie, and continued with Wayne Shorter. As a composer and bandleader himself, he’s practically peerless.”
- NPR
“Effortlessly hip"
- Guardian (UK)
Life & Work
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Bio:
As a solo artist and as a collaborator with jazz giants from Dizzy Gillespie to Wayne Shorter, for over three decades Grammy® Award Winning Panamanian Pianist-Composer Danilo Pérez has been lauded as one of the most creative forces in contemporary music. With Jazz as the anchoring foundation, Pérez’s Global Jazz music is a blend of Panamanian roots, Latin American folk music, West African rhythms, European impressionism – promoting music as a borderless and multidimensional bridge between all people.
Born in Panama in 1965, Pérez started his musical studies when he was three years old with his father, a bandleader and singer. By age 10, he was studying the European classical piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electronics in Panama, he studied jazz composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. While still a student, he performed with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D’Rivera. Quickly established as a young master, he soon toured and/or recorded with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra from 1989-1992, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, and Roy Haynes.
In 1993, Pérez turned his focus to his own ensembles and recording projects, releasing several albums as a leader, earning Grammy® and Latin Grammy® nominations for Central Avenue (1998), Motherland (2000), Across The Crystal Sea (2008), and Providencia (2010). In 1996, he was signed by producer Tommy Lipuma to join the Impulse label and recorded Panamonk, a tribute to Thelonious Monk which according to DownBeat magazine is one of the most important piano albums in the history of jazz. Pérez’s album Central Avenue, featured mejoranera music (a style of Panamanian folklore singing) and was chosen as one of the 10 best recordings across genres by TIME Magazine in 1998. A collaboration between Pérez and the prolific composer and arranger Claus Ogerman, 2008’s Across The Crystal Sea was praised by The Guardian as, “So ultra-smooth it achieves something like a state of grace.” Ogerman said, “This is a record I wanted to make before I leave the planet.” Pérez made his Mack Avenue Records debut in 2010 with the release of Providencia. The album was nominated for a 2011 Grammy® Award in the category of Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
Pérez joined the Wayne Shorter Quartet in 2010 with John Patitucci and Brian Blade. This latest iteration from Shorter has been known as a unique and predominant force in improvisational music both at their historic live performances and on several recordings. In 2018 Blue Note records released the highly anticipated EMANON from the Wayne Shorter Quartet which won a Grammy® in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental album in 2019.
For several years Pérez has also been touring with his trio – featuring Ben Street and Adam Cruz – and with Children of the Light, a collaboration with fellow Wayne Shorter Quartet members John Patitucci and Brian Blade. Mack Avenue released the Children of the Light album in 2015 to great critical acclaim. Pérez’s current touring project, the Global Messengers, spreads the idea that music can serve as a natural remedy to unfortunate situations, providing an uplifting message, connection, and common ground. The ensemble features musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds, coming together to build community through music.
As a composer, Pérez has been commissioned by The Lincoln Center, Chicago Jazz Festival, and Imani Winds Quintet, among others. His octet for members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela was commissioned by Carnegie Hall. In 2014, the Banff Centre commissioned Pérez to write a piano quintet for the Cecilia String Quartet titled "Camino de Cruces" and he also composed the music for the Museum of Biodiversity in Panama, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. In 2015, Pérez premiered another two new compositions: “Expeditions – Panamania 2015” was premiered at the Panamerican games in Toronto and his “Detroit World Suite – La Leyenda de Bayano” was premiered at the Detroit Jazz Festival. Pérez returns to the Detroit Jazz Festival in Fall 2019 for the world premiere of a new piece written for his Global Messengers ensemble and co-commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, National Forum of Music Wroclaw, and Koerner Hall at Royal Academy of Music Toronto.
Pérez, who served as Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, has received a variety of awards for his musical achievements, activism and social work efforts. He is a recipient of the United States Fellowship 2018, and the 2009 Smithsonian Legacy Award. He currently serves as UNESCO Artist for Peace, Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Founder and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston’s Berklee College of Music.
Contact Information
- Management/Booking: info@imnworld.com
Media & Markets
- ▶ Twitter: DaniloPerezJAZZ
- ▶ Instagram: daniloperezjazz
- ▶ Website: http://www.daniloperez.com
- ▶ Website 2: http://www.berklee.edu/focused/global-jazz
- ▶ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdZQZ4gcFyuO-xS2Mhm3ssA
- ▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UC8xCM9arc4odGKi2rcqiZgg
- ▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/17k34KBK9RZyuCZvtC5nLj
- ▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/20mUME6ngGo4rrbyCNMqnO
- ▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/6DTxfwFfwzh12FAeyTCA9P
- ▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/4f20VetWFktS0dZJBma1Wy
- ▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/0oeRAJp6WMzSO1wuRd7rCw
- ▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/1Hs8NpKEKWDT9q4raFaByq
More
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Quotes, Notes & Etc.
"… but there are still amazing musicians like Danilo Perez, who plays piano with Wayne Shorter's quartet. He is not afraid of anything."
- Herbie Hancock
Clips (more may be added)
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Danilo Pérez: A Man, A Plan, and A Canal
68 views
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"Expedition" - Danilo Pérez's Global Messengers
76 views
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Children of the Light
240 views
ABOUT THE MATRIX
This matrix is dedicated to creative artists and non-algorithmic discovery.
It was described (to some degree) and can be accessed via this article in British journal The Guardian (which named our radio of matrixed artists as one of ten best in the world):
www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/apr/17/10-best-music-radio-station-around-world
While the Brazilian musicians I work with now you may not know, I formerly worked (chasing unpaid royalties!) on behalf of Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Led Zeppelin, Jim Hall, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Philip Glass, The Cadillacs (Earl Carroll), The Flamingos (Zeke and Jake Carey), and others, including Oscar-winning world-class great-guy Robb Royer. I was interviewed by David Dye for broadcast on U.S. National Public Radio several years ago ... about the Brazilians:
- Randy "Pardal/Sparrow" Roberts
All is more connected than we know.
w/ David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio
The matrix was inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone...
Our logo, per the "spirit" above, is a cortador de cana, a cane cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specialized in. The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum... it dances and sings.
