Daniel Duke

Daniel LaCour Duke is a critically acclaimed bassist and composer who has performed with some high profile musicians throughout his career, including Vincent Herring, Louis Hayes, and Mulgrew MIller. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Duke’s parents were both classical piano teachers. His father also worked as a solo jazz pianist. When offered a job at a well regarded music school, the family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where Daniel began learning the violin as a child. Throughout his childhood, he was exposed to jazz, second line and Cajun music on frequent visits to his mother’s family in New Orleans. As a teenager he started playing bass, and by the time he turned 18, he was working regularly as a professional bassist with jazz, rock, and salsa bands in Minneapolis.

In 2012 Duke moved to New York after attending William Paterson University in New Jersey. He began working full time as an acoustic bassist, initially supplementing his income by playing on the West 4th Street subway platform and in Washington Square Park. He made many connections in the New York City jazz scene, and after a year he was performing almost nightly at restaurants, bars, and jazz clubs.    

Over the years, Duke has cultivated a performance resume that includes Birdland Jazz Club, Dizzy’s, most of the major jazz venues in New York, and others across the United States. He has had numerous residencies at the West Village mainstays Small’s and Mezzrow, including with renowned pianists Sacha Perry, Michael Kanan, and Davis Whitfield. In 2019, he performed weekly at Smoke Jazz Club in Manhattan with saxophonist Nicole Glover, including a two-night run with George Cables as a special guest in 2020. This collaboration culminated in Glover's critically acclaimed album Strange Lands (Savant 2021), which went on to spend 26 weeks on the JazzWeek charts, as well as 11 weeks in the top 50. Duke composed the number one single from the album (“Hive Queen”), and co-wrote several compositions with Glover, including the title track.

Duke currently lives in the Bronx and maintains a full schedule of performances. He plays at theaters and jazz listening rooms across the United States and internationally, accompanying high level acts like Jane Monheit, Isaac Mizrahi and the Anderson brothers. In New York, he continues to be a sought after bassist for a wide variety of musicians, and his recorded body of work ranges from the experimental to the traditional. Duke has also contributed as a composer and arranger on numerous albums and served as the musical director on the 2019 release Blue Heaven (Cellar Live).

Most recently, he played on guitarist Joe Wittman’s Trio Works Sol.