Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix: Danilo Pérez

A musician has a responsibility to take listeners on a creative journey throughout their career. For many musicians, the journey travels through familiar territory consistently taking listeners back through the same type of musical surroundings. This type of musician generally connects with a good number of listeners, due to the pleasant and predictable nature of their music.

Listeners rarely get challenged though, always moving through the safe haven of expected musical directions. More daring journeys require a more in-depth musicianship, a broader artistic scope, and an unflappable sense of adventure. This type of musician holds onto their roots but experiments on a regular basis, testing just how far they can push tradition.

They hold the challenge of maintaining listeners during their twists and turns, finding ways to connect their new ideas with familiar concepts. This type of creative movement guarantees constant growth for the artist, but also means a varied and exciting listening experience.

Pianist Danilo Pérez has consistently taken listeners into unexpected artistic territory, keeping them along for the ride by the sheer virtue of his deep musicality. Born in 1965, Pérez’s father brought him into music at a young age, leading him to Panama’s National Conservatory by the age of 10. Initially studying electronics in college, a move to the States pushed Pérez back into music, and he landed at the Berklee College of Music. While attending school, Pérez performing with a wealth of well-known artists from the jazz world, including Paquito D’Rivera, Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, and Claudio Roditi.

Soon after graduation, Pérez earned the piano chair in Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation’s Orchestra, bringing him into high profile concerts around the world and the concert recording, Live at the Royal Festival Hall. Following his engagement with Gillespie, Pérez continued playing with some of the jazz world’s top musicians, performing on several recordings such as Reunion from Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval, Slow Fire from Claudio Roditi, New Arrival From Charlie Sepulveda & The Turnaround, Passages from Tom Harrell, and more. Pérez stepped into the role of a bandleader in the early nineties, first with the self-titled Danilo Pérez and then in 1993 with The Journey.
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Danilo Pérez Trio Performing “Think Of One” - Part 1 (Danilo Pérez Trading Piano Solos With Papo Lucca)