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Danny Janklow

Saxophonist, multi-Instrumentalist, educator, producer & composer Danny Janklow is quickly gaining international recognition for his soulful and innovative musical voice. His heart-felt, passionate, and highly energetic music has reached and inspired thousands of listeners from Japan to Holland to Mexico. His live performances, often described as “emotionally charged” and “vibrant celebrations,” leave his listeners always wanting more…

Born in Tarzana, CA in 1989, Danny Janklow was handed the saxophone at the age of 11. His life would soon change as he was introduced to the remarkable sounds of Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and John Coltrane. Just 2 years later, it was obvious to all that the music had chosen him. During his time at Agoura High School, Danny was recognized by Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra as the first-ever triple instrument “Outstanding Soloist” on tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet.

In 2007, Danny was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to Philadelphia’s Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance where he was mentored by saxophone legend Dick Oatts and incredible trumpeter Terell Stafford. In 2010, Danny won 1st place in the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) competition held in Athens, Georgia. While living on the east coast, he frequently played at the Village Vanguard with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Kimmel Center, the Apollo in Harlem, and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York.

After graduating in 2011, Danny moved back to Los Angeles to take the scene by storm. He rapidly became one of LA’s most in-demand saxophonists and bandleaders. In August 2012, he won 1st place at the Detroit Jazz Festival Saxophone Competition and headlined on that year’s festival. He took part in a 2-year Mentor program teaching at Stanford Jazz Camp where he discovered his deep passion for teaching students of all ages. In 2013, he was selectively chosen as a semi-finalist to compete in the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition in Washington D.C.

Danny has enjoyed the pleasure of sharing the stage and recording with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, George Benson, Aloe Blacc, Jose James, Wynton & Branford Marsalis, Benny Golson, Eric Reed, John Beasley, Ben Williams, Jason Moran, Wallace Roney, Savion Glover, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Bill Holman Big Band, Gordon Goodwin, and Jimmy Heath.

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Album Review

Julie Kelly: Freedom Jazz Dance

Read "Freedom Jazz Dance" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


Freedom Jazz Dance from Los Angeles singer, Julie Kelly offers an interesting array of selections that emanate from that musical road less traveled. And, as in life, sometimes that road yields nuggets of delight that would most likely never make it to the tried and “true way." Peter Nero and Carroll Coates' “New York on Sunday" opens things and is a lilting snap on 2 and 4 groove with Kelly joyously covering it and Josh Nelson slickly ...

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Album Review

Gary Brumburgh: Full Circle

Read "Full Circle" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


A recording dedicated to New York theater and a high school music teacher. Ho, boy, one thinks. “What could go wrong?" Actually, not much. Vocalist Gary Brumburgh is, all snobbery aside, a very pleasant surprise. He swings. He is plenty hip. He has an attractive style and a pleasant, companionable voice. So, what good can come of Nazareth (or anywhere else, for that matter), On Circle, plenty. This is a Friday- afternoon kind of recording, good for unwinding and the ...

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Album Review

Gary Brumburgh: Full Circle

Read "Full Circle" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Gary Brumburgh is living proof that a talented singer can sustain a respectable career in music without becoming a “star." Even though he's not a household name—or anywhere near it—Brumburgh performed in musical productions from dinner theatres to summer stock, concert stages to casinos for more than two decades before changing direction in 2003 to focus on jazz. Full Circle, Brumburgh's third album as a jazz vocalist, consists of eleven tunes he has sung in various musical productions, bedecked in ...

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Album Review

MONK'estra: MONK'estra Plays John Beasley

Read "MONK'estra Plays John Beasley" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The MONK'estra is actually a number of groups of various shapes and sizes, from duo to big band, assembled under the guiding hand of composer, arranger & pianist John Beasley to—wait for it!—"play John Beasley," an artist whose admiration for Thelonious Sphere Monk is clear throughout this buoyant and resourceful album, as it was on Volumes 1 and 2 of the series, in which the MONK'estra “played Monk." Beasley wrote eight of the album's fourteen genial numbers ...

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Album Review

Judy Wexler: Back to the Garden

Read "Back to the Garden" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Man, if you can pick a tougher project to sell to an aging Boomer than Judy Wexler's Back to the Garden, then you will have to say what it might be. For a lot of the Swinging and Breathing Elderly, this music is intensely personal. Not just where were you, or who were you with? But what were you doing? And most of all, why? Not everyone was a protester or a demonstrator, much less a hippie. Not everyone made ...

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Album Review

Judy Wexler: Back to the Garden

Read "Back to the Garden" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


A glance at the tracks on this album might make one think that it is a well-selected gathering of '60s message tunes from compilation stalwart, Rhino Records. That not being the case, rest assured that Back to the Garden presents those iconic Pop selections so incredibly re- imagined that what we experience could easily be considered “new selections." Judy Wexler--petite in stature, but tremendously talented and agile in artistry--and her cadre of LA's best, delivers her finest performance ...

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Album Review

John Beasley: MONK'estra Plays John Beasley

Read "MONK'estra Plays John Beasley" reviewed by Jim Worsley


In 2016 John Beasley gifted us with John Beasley Presents Monk'estra Volume 1 (Mack Avenue). The buzz of that superb record led to John Beasley Presents Monk'estra Volume 2 (Mack Avenue, 2017). Both records were Grammy nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. They were both more than Grammy worthy, but alas the competition is fierce. Beasley has been more than a Thelonious Monk fan throughout his life, including his now over forty years in the music industry. ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Freedom Jazz Dance

Laurelwood Records
2025

buy

Full Circle

Cafe Pacific Records
2022

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Back to the Garden

Jewel City Jazz
2021

buy

Earthshine

Self Produced
2021

buy

MONK'estra Plays John...

Mack Avenue Records
2020

buy

Elevation

Outside in Music
2018

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