Daniel Lucca Parenti

D-Lucca

Piccolo Bass? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Not when you’re talking about D-Lucca, who is among a mere handful of people who can pull it off. As with Stanley Clarke and the late Wayman Tisdale, D-Lucca can count himself as one of the few artists able to bring the piccolo bass into a well-warranted limelight. Daniel Lucca Parenti,shortened to D-Lucca, is a San Francisco Bay Area native who has performed with many jazz legends, including Rosemary Clooney, Michael Brecker, and Lionel Hampton. Bass Player Magazine said of D-Lucca, “Aptly handling a variety of basses, including melody-manning piccolo, [D-Lucca’s] material is alternately laid-back and fused-out modern jazz.” Though D-Lucca may not follow the jazz-fusion lead of Clarke or the smooth jazz of recent sensation Tisdale, he has definitely found his niche within the newest wave of modern jazz. “D-Lucca has fused jazz and rock so beautifully that you don’t know when one ends and the other begins,” wrote Susan Frances from JazzReview.com.

Musically, people had been taking notice of Daniel since the age of 12 when a junior high school music teacher, impressed with his ability to read music, handed him a bass and said, “If you can learn to play this over the summer you can be my bass player in the jazz band.” And so he did. Over the next few years, a lot of hard work, lessons, and hours of practice kept him advancing through school music programs.

Inspired by amazing teachers and legendary artists like Rush and Michael Manring, Daniel began to focus his talents and by age 17, had become an accomplished jazz and rock bassist. After high school he attended Cal State University at Hayward and was selected as a freshman to play with Dave Eshelmann’s top Jazz Ensemble. With the CSUH Jazz Ensemble, Daniel had the pleasure of touring all over California and parts of Nevada, as well as a tour of Southern Brazil. By this time Daniel had discovered the amazing music of such artists as Jaco Pastorious, Weather Report, Dave Holland, and Squarepusher which inspired him to begin to write and perform his own music. At age 19 he’d been tabbed to be the bassist for Matt Catingub’s “Copa Cat Pack Band,” with Concord Jazz Records. Daniel would go on to tour with several popular jazz artists, including, Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein, as Bassist for The Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack. With Rosemary and Michael, over a four year period, Daniel made several appearances on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” and “The View,” toured all over the continental U.S., Hawaii, Germany, and Canada, and performed at many popular Jazz Festivals, including, 2000 Stuttgart Jazz Open, 2000-1 Westbury Jazz Festivals, NY, 2001 Maysville Jazz Festival, KY, and also 2000-1 Human Rights Campaign, DC. With Big Kahuna, Daniel performed and recorded with the reputable Honolulu Pops Orchestra; and recorded four full length CD's with Concord Jazz Records, two of which were Grammy Nominated. And, he still managed to help pay his college tuition and complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and Composition at the same time.

Daniel has become one of the top call bassists in the San Francisco Bay Area performing with many well known Bay Area artists such as, Billy Johnson (Santana), Frank Martin (Narda Michael Walden), Joel Smith (Walter Hawkins), and Lorn Leber (Gerry Garcia Band) just to name a few. Recently, touring with Terry Disley from Acoustic Alchemy, Daniel has performed at the Jazz Trax Smooth Jazz Festival at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe and the Jazz Trax Smooth Jazz Festival at Catalina Island in 2004. Daniel is also featured on Terry Disley's album entitled, “Across the Pond.” Terry Disley said about Daniel, “I was much taken aback when I first heard this young man play the bass. He is my very first recommendation. I appreciate his overall musicianship, his skill on all the basses both on acoustic upright and electric instruments, and his constant reliability and professionalism. He shows maturity beyond his years and his playing shows his deep knowledge and understanding of the history and source of his art. This combined with his passion for music and a desire to be the best at his craft, make him irreplaceable.”

In 2003 Daniel decided that it was time to pursue his own ambitions and showcase his own music. Daniel has always been a writer and arranger. Even since the start when he was learning the piano, was writing music and putting together collections of original songs. All through his school career compiled a book of original jazz compositions that number in the hundreds. Now as D-Lucca, he has released five full length original albums of his own “The All For You Project,” “Cruise Control,” “The Next Level,” and “Pressing Forward,” as well as masterful Christmas Album, “Have Yourself a Fretless Little Christmas.” His solo career is now coming to life having performed at the world renown Yoshi’s Jazz Club and many Bay Area music festivals. Along with the support of endorsers like Radial Engineering and Bartolini Pick-ups and of course his loving wife and children, you can rest assure that D-Lucca will make his imprint in music history.

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Skills and Attributes

Composer/Arranger since 1992 - Experience in writing and arranging music in many different genres.

Instrumentalist since 1987- Experience performing in many different genres on several different instruments. Including: Acoustic Bass, 4 and 5 String Electric Basses, Piccolo Electric Bass, 6 String Guitar, Piano, Drum Set, and Percussion. Note - Bass Instruments are the primary focus.

Producer since 1996 - Producing and assisting on original Album's in the Genres of Jazz, Rock, Ska, Drum & Bass, and Hip-Hop.

Genres include - Contemporary Jazz, Straight Ahead Jazz, Big Band Jazz, Latin Jazz, Progressive Jazz Fusion, Rock, Christian Rock, Acoustic Rock, Ska, Pop, Drum & Bass/ Techno, R&B/Funk, Gospel and Hip-Hop.

Other skills and attributes include - Sight Reading, Notation, Transcription, Booking, Promotion, Merchandising, Recruiting, Organization, Punctuality, Dedication, and Determination.

Memberships

ASCAP since 2003; writer and publisher. NARAS, currently applying.

Awards

2002 Grammy Nomination for Rosemary Clooney's “Sentimental Journey,” Concord Records 2001.

2003 Grammy Nomination for Rosemary Clooney's “The Last Concert,” Concord Records 2002

ASCAP Plus Award 2008 & 2009

Awards: