Danny Green

Over the past decade, jazz pianist and Origin Records recording artist Danny Green has earned recognition as a bandleader and as a composer with a gift for spinning supple, absorbing narratives. Green’s growing portfolio of vibrant sounds – an enchanting mix of jazz, classical, and Brazilian rhythms – has captured the attention of critics around the world, including DownBeat Magazine, Jazziz, San Diego Union Tribune, the Boston Globe, and Public Radio International. It’s no small wonder that Green has earned two San Diego Music awards for Best Jazz Album and an additional award for Best Jazz Artist. His long-time trio includes bassist Justin Grinnell and drummer Julien Cantelm, noteworthy musicians in their own right, and together they have developed a nearly psychic connection as they perform Green’s original compositions and jazz standards. Green takes listeners on a journey that is equal parts introspective and exuberant, and always compelling.



Green’s talents have taken him from the Blue Note in New York City to the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, and his work has been featured in DownBeat Magazine, Jazziz, the San Diego Union Tribune, The Boston Globe, NPR, and JazzEd. According to JazzReview.com, “Danny Green is what evolution in jazz is all about, expressing the traits of those that came before him, with a style and panache that is all his own…an individual who expresses what is inside of him.”


Green revealed his unique talents on his 2009 debut recording With You In Mind. The album received extensive airplay around the globe, rose to #18 on the Jazz Week Charts, and won “Best Jazz Album” at the 2009 San Diego Music Awards. In 2012, Green teamed up with Tapestry Records to release A Thousand Ways Home, featuring Justin Grinnell on bass, Julien Cantelm on drums, and Tripp Sprague on sax, as well as a talented cast of guest artists inducing guitarists Chico Pinheiro, Peter Sprague, and Dusty Brough, Brazilian vocalist Claudia Villela, and mandolinist Eva Scow. A Thousand Ways Home received numerous rave reviews nationwide, rose to #17 on the Jazz Week Charts, was voted into KSDS Jazz 88.3’s “Top Ten Jazz Releases of 2012,” and was nominated “Best Jazz Album” at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards. In 2014, the Danny Green Trio, comprised of Green, Grinnell, and Cantelm, released the highly-acclaimed album After The Calm on Origin/OA2 Records. Featuring ten of Green’s compositions, the album received much praise from the press and nationwide radio play, and won “Best Jazz Album” at the 2015 San Diego Music Awards and was nominated for “Album of the Year.”



The trio recorded their 2016 release, Altered Narratives, at New York City’s famed Sear Sound recording studio with award- winning producer Matt Pierson. Released on Origin/OA2 Records, the album consists of eleven original compositions by Green. The three tunes at the center of the album feature the trio with a string quartet led by violinist Antoine Silverman, a widely admired New York classical and studio player. All About Jazz critic Dan McClenaghan commented, “There’s nothing that adds a touch of elegance to a jazz set more than an adeptly-done string arrangement, and these are superb; violins, viola and cello in a sinuous, sometimes whispering embrace with a vibrant, top-notch piano trio, delving into Danny Green’s distinguished compositions.” The album remained on the Jazz Week Top 50 chart for fourteen weeks and earned high praise from critics worldwide.

The Danny Green Trio Plus Strings released its first full length album, One Day It Will, in 2018. The album features San Diego Symphony violinists Kate Hatmaker and Igor Pandurski, violist Travis Maril, and cellist Erica Erenyi. One Day It Will was featured in DownBeat Magazine, Jazz Weekly (selected as “Ringer of the Week”), CD Hotlist (selected as “Pick of the Month”), The New York City Jazz Record, Mercury News, and Long Islander News, among many other press outlets. Jazz da Gama called the album, “one to die for.” The album remained on the Jazz Week Top 50 charts for five weeks and was featured multiple times on Public Radio International’s nationally syndicated Jazz After Hours.

Green has brought his Trio Plus Strings to venues throughout the United States. The group debuted in 2016 at New York City’s Shapeshifter Lab, and since then has maintained a steady performance schedule, including shows at Huntington Summer Arts Festival (NY), TEDxSan Diego at Copley Symphony Hall, KSDS Jazz 88.3’s Jazz Live (San Diego), Portola Vineyards Summer Jazz Series (Los Altos, CA), The Blue Whale (Los Angeles), An Die Musik Live! (Baltimore), and Rockwood Music Hall (NYC). The Danny Green Trio Plus Strings was selected to perform at the prestigious Western Arts Alliance Juried Showcase in 2017.

Green is also highly devoted to music education. In addition to teaching private lessons, he is a faculty member of the annual Jazz 88.3 Summer Jazz Workshop, adjunct faculty at Grossmont College, and he presents a jazz appreciation workshop at elementary schools as part of the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library’s outreach program. Green directed the Coronado School of the Arts jazz band from 2014-2017, and was an artist in residence at Canyon Crest Academy and at CSU Summer Arts Monterey. Show less