Dan Papirany

Dan Papirany is an adventurous Jazz pianist, composer who understands and follows the eloquent philosophy that is to play melodic phrases and rich harmonies.    

Originally starting out as a drummer at seventeen years of age, he discovered the music of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett's piano playing which led him to switch instruments to the piano. He remembers a quote from drummer Peter Erskine, “play what you mean and mean what you play” for this quote opened up a whole new horizon as he began to play and record professionally as a serious musician.  

While studying jazz piano with Leigh Jackson in Wellington, Dan formed his first trio and played in local venues and mainly at “Bar Bodega”. 

Dan Papirany is an adventurous Jazz pianist, composer who understands and follows the eloquent philosophy that is to play melodic phrases and rich harmonies.    

Originally starting out as a drummer at seventeen years of age, he discovered the music of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett's piano playing which led him to switch instruments to the piano. He remembers a quote from drummer Peter Erskine, “play what you mean and mean what you play” for this quote opened up a whole new horizon as he began to play and record professionally as a serious musician.  

While studying jazz piano with Leigh Jackson in Wellington, Dan formed his first trio and played in local venues and mainly at “Bar Bodega”. 

While taking post graduate musicology courses at Victoria University in Wellington Dan was offered the position of Music HOD at a school in Auckland New Zealand teaching Maori students a music curriculum based on Jazz. Dan formed his Auckland trio and performed solos and with his trio at local venues including the famous London Bar and the Jazz Bar. 

Dan’s trio recorded their debut album of jazz standards which was released by Ode Records in March of 2004 entitled “Session One” and was nominated for a New Zealand Music Award.  

“Session Two” was a compilation of original tunes, the three releases afterward were live albums recorded at the trio residency venue The “MLC Café & Bar”. His 6th album “2011” and his 7th album “2014” includes his original “Bargara” which won second place in the Australia Jazz Convention Original tunes competition in December 2011.  His latest recording is titled “2015” and includes one original tune entitled “Eb Major Waltz”.   

Dan’s repertoire consists of originals and jazz standards while appearing at local jazz spots in Australia and New Zealand.

After many stage performances Dan found that his playing matured, phrases became more melodious, often stretching across the bar line with phrases appearing to be more defined and resolving better than before as he consistently reaches for higher heights in his musical abilities.  

His favorite musical setting is to perform at a venue that houses a grand piano with a cohesive group of musicians that listens and interacts with each other as they counter solo with the piano, like the Bill Evans trio is known for presenting.  

Papirany’s music is the opposite of where the mainstream jazz sound is today, he finds that current sounds are always experimental and doesn't try to follow these trends, simply because he wouldn't be happy sounding like most modern players.   

He currently has collaboration with Norwegian vocalist Vibeke Voller resulting in an exciting, rich and creative inspiration to much loved jazz standards! “I took a chance” is their second Duo album which is due to be released at a CD launch event in Brisbane Jazz club on July 8th , and the album is signed by a Melbourne label “NEWMARKET MUSIC”. The complimentary interaction of these two unique talents has produced a fresh and polished musical experience! 

Dan’s recent collaboration is with Australian vocalist Ron Bernard, they are working on a project named 'Jazzin' thru Bossa 'n' Samba', in which they  blend elements of Jazz, Bossa Nova, and Samba as they perform Jazz standards, Bossa Nova Classics, and popular songs.

In May 2016 Dan performed with his group two successful shows at EUROPAfest 2016 in Bucharest, and was invited to return in May this year for a solo performance and to be a Judge in the 2017 international jazz competition in Romania.