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Daniel Bruce

Daniel Bruce has been performing music on a professional level since the age of seventeen when he began playing and recording with local acts in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. He attended Bowling Green State University on a music scholarship, where he studied both classical and jazz guitar. Daniel has held faculty positions at Muskingum College and Cuyahoga Community College, where he taught ear training, jazz history, and applied guitar. In 2004 Daniel was awarded a graduate teaching fellowship at the University of North Texas, where he directed a lab band and two guitar ensembles, and taught applied jazz guitar while pursuing a master's degree in jazz studies. He completed his master's degree in December of 2006, and is currently teaching and performing in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Daniel has performed with groups from various genres, including the Broadway productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Parade, and Chicago, and has maintained an active career as a jazz and classical performer. In September of 2004 Daniel's arrangement of George Gershwin's "Embraceable You" was published in Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, and he remains a regular contributor. In January of 2005, he was a featured guest with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. In the fall of 2005 he joined Lynn Seaton for a project aimed at performing and recording the music of guitarist Emily Remler.

Daniel has performed with a number of the top musicians in the Midwest and Texas including Lynn Seaton, Dan Wall, Stefan Karlsson, Fred Hamilton, Marvin Stamm, Greg Bandy, Kenny Davis, Jeff Halsey, Chris Buzzelli, Russell Schmidt, Jack Schantz, Bill Sears, Dominic Spera, Brent Wallarab, and Luke Gillespie.

Daniel has recorded with Lynn Seaton, Dan Wall and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Bobby Selvaggio, J. Scott Franklin, Infinite Number of Sounds, The University of North Texas L-5 Guitar Ensemble, and The UNT 2'Clock Lab Band. Daniel released A Single Thread, his first album as a leader in January of 2007.

Tags

11
Album Review

Alla Boara: Le Tre Sorelle

Read "Le Tre Sorelle" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Although critical consensus would have it that jazz is a unique art form with its roots placed squarely in America, the music has always been open to the influences of other music and cultures. Prime examples would have to include the early strains of French gypsy music that morphed with jazz thanks to the influence of Django Reinhardt in the '40s. Fast forward a few decades to find the widespread popularity of the Brazilian bossa nova via Stan Getz and ...

9
Album Review

Alla Boara: Le Tre Sorelle

Read "Le Tre Sorelle" reviewed by John Chacona


Sustaining a career as a full-time working musician, especially if you live far from major urban centers, requires that you speak several languages. With a resume that includes party band Hey Mavis to the acclaimed period-instrument Baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire, jny: Cleveland-based drummer Anthony Taddeo qualifies on musical terms. But he also picked up his father's native language during a three-month interval in Italy that would prove decisive in his musical development. The result is Le Tre Sorelle, ...

7
Album Review

Dan Bruce's Beta Collective: Time to Mind the Mystics

Read "Time to Mind the Mystics" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


A modern composer and guitarist, Dan Bruce spent a decade taking advantage of the Chicago jazz scene while working such rooms as The Green Mill and The Jazz Showcase. In addition to making his mark as a creative writer, he also spent time making music with such heavy hitters as Seamus Blake, Ali Jackson, and Dan Wall. Since 2017, Bruce has made his home in Northeast Ohio and has continued to turn heads with his original music and prowess as ...

3
Album Review

Collage Project: Off Brand

Read "Off Brand" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Listeners who crave a bit of classical rigor with their jazz--or, conversely, those who enjoy improvisational freedom within a classical chamber setting--should investigate the work of the Collage Project. Built around the trio of guitarists Dan Bruce and Daniel Lippel and bassist Aidan Plank, and complemented by drummer Nathan Douds, saxophonist Noa Even and trombonist Chris Anderson, the group thrives in the space between formalism and freedom, and with whip-smart compositions perfect for harnessing their respective talents, Off Brand is ...

19
Album Review

Daniel Bruce: Earthshine

Read "Earthshine" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


In the ever-growing scene of jazz-guitar today it is getting harder to distinguish oneself from the rest of the crowd. When taking a look around current stirrings in jazz, the guitar seems to be experiencing a renaissance as the main vehicle in the genre-new formations with the instrument at their core emerging all over the globe. Like Mike Moreno, Lage Lund, Matthew Stevens or Gilad Hekselman--to name a few--Ohio-based Dan Bruce is among those musicians searching to establish a proper ...

9
Album Review

Dan Bruce's Beta Collective: Earthshine

Read "Earthshine" reviewed by Troy Dostert


On the first listen, it's easy to fall under the sway of the sweetness of Dan Bruce's silky guitar tone, only to miss the substance at the heart of his music. Just as similar guitarists like Ben Monder or Kurt Rosenwinkel possess a generous, accessible sound with an exploratory edge, Bruce brings a finely-polished technique that is at the same time subtly discontent, searching for new expressions and willing to take some chances along the way. His capacious compositions featuring ...

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"Daniel Bruce is without a doubt one of the finest of today's young jazz guitarists. He plays with great creativity, soul and intelligence. Daniel is a fine musician by anyone's standards. -Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine 2007

"Dan Bruce is a lyrical musician with a thoroughly modern bent based on a firm grasp of the tradition. I have enjoyed playing with him on many occasions". -Lynn Seaton

Primary Instrument

Guitar

Location

Chicago

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Photos

Concerts

Mar 28 Thu

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Elemental

Hidden Cinema Records
2023

buy

Time to Mind the...

Shifting Paradigm Records
2022

buy

Le Tre Sorelle

Shifting Paradigm Records
2022

buy

Off Brand

New Focus Recordings
2020

buy

Earthshine

ears&eyes Records
2017

buy

A Single Thread

NohJoh Music
2007

buy

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