Dan Block is one of those rare ....

In today’s jazz scene it is a rare occurrence when a musician is truly versed in a myriad of styles, from the earliest New Orleans traditions to the modal jazz of the 1960s and 70s. Dan Block is one of those rare individuals fitting like a chameleon on a host of instruments into a host of musical genres. He persistently searches for connections in the history of the music and finds his style, and to quote one of his favorite authors Kurt Vonnegut, remains “unstuck in time”.

A native of St. Louis, Block took up the saxophone just short of his fourteenth birthday, trumpet soon after, and clarinet the following year. An indelible memory was hearing Eubie Blake at the St. Louis Ragtime Festival and being exposed to the music of John Coltrane for the first time all in the same week. Classical music and Great American Songbook standards were constantly playing in his home and he was deeply influenced by both. As his clarinet studies progressed he settled on becoming a classical player, but could never leave the realm of jazz.

While at Juilliard he had an opportunity to play on Charles Mingus’ last album which featured a ‘who’s who” of saxophonists, trumpet players, trombonists and rhythm section players. He explored the loft scene, and played jam sessions with many of the up and coming musicians as well as the veterans. As a student at Juilliard he worked with the legendary guru of the saxophone, Joe Allard, and was coached in chamber music by the great oboist Robert Bloom. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra he was fortunate enough to play under the baton of Leonard Bernstein, George Solti and Zubin Mehta.

A friendship began with Wynton Marsalis who also was a student there at the time, and that friendship continues to this day. Dan works frequently with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. After graduating, he found himself working with Haitian musicians and discovering the roots of jazz in this West Indian Diaspora. The popular music known as “Compas Direct” has the same beat and bass line as traditional jazz and in this genre Block found his true style. He became famous in that community as a player and arranger on some fifteen different record albums (not included on the discography), and traveled extensively in Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, France and Quebec.

After leaving the Haitian scene, Block continued to hone his skills as an arranger, writing for various chamber groups in both classical and "jazz crossover" genres, most notably a suite of four Monk compositions commissioned by the New York Saxophone Quartet, and recorded on their release "Urbanology". At the same time he began working with Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, probably the most authentic repertory band of the 1920s and 30s in the world.

Over the years he has continued with Vince, appearing at such venues as the Newport Jazz Festival, the 92nd St. Y and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has become well known in traditional jazz circles, playing with luminaries like Ralph Sutton, John Bunch and Warren Vache, and in more modern circles working with Bennie Wallace, Tom Harrell, Howard Johnson and Dave Leibman His conservatory background enabled Block to supplement his living working in Broadway pits and freelance orchestras, including The Orchestra of St. Lukes, The New York Chamber Symphony, Orpheus, The New York City Ballet and The New York Pops
Dan Block (tenor sax) and Ehud Asherie (piano) consider Thelonious Monk's haunting RUBY, MY DEAR
Recorded live at Smalls on West Tenth Street in New York City.
Recorded by Michael Steinman.
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