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Dan Monaghan

Mansfield, PA, native Dan Monaghan is one of the busiest drummers in the Philadelphia area. After studying classical percussion for eight years he went on to earn a Bachelors of Music in jazz studies from Temple University. Since then he has performed with some of the top names in jazz, including Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Uri Caine, and Randy Brecker. In addition, he has recorded with Dick Oatts, Garry Dial, Joe Magnarelli, Jimmy Bruno, Elio Villafranca, Joanna Pascale, John Vanore & Abstract Truth, Larry McKenna, Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord, Norman David, Tom Tallitsch, Mike Kennedy, and many others. 

Dan has performed at the Heineken Jazzaldia Festival, the Daegu International Jazz Festival, the Mellon Jazz Festival, the East Coast Jazz Festival, the Wilmington Latino Festival, the Cremona Jazz Festival, the Blue Note, Blues Alley, Smoke, Ortlieb's Jazzhaus, Zanzibar Blue, and Chris' Jazz Cafe, among other well-known venues. 

In addition to his performing credits, Dan is on the faculty at Rowan University and Temple University, and is a frequent clinician at schools, colleges, and festivals.


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29
Album Review

Larry McKenna: World On A String

Read "World On A String" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Larry McKenna is not really a celebrity. He probably never will be. He plays tenor sax in and around jny: Philadelphia. He apparently does not say a lot--although he clearly has a puckish sense of humor. It comes out in his playing. It is possible to drive by his suburban home, vaguely aware that a saxophonist, a pretty good one, lives there and keep right on going. A sort of metaphor for McKenna and his career (read our 2007 interview). ...

32
Album Review

The Dave Wilson Quartet: Stretching Supreme

Read "Stretching Supreme" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On Stretching Supreme, his seventh album as leader of his own ensembles, saxophonist Dave Wilson pays homage to a musical hero-- the legendary John Coltrane--performing a trio of Coltrane's classic themes from his late-career “transitional" period, “A Love Supreme," “Dear Lord" and “Naima," recorded in October 2017 at Chris' Jazz Café in Philadelphia; “A Love Supreme" is divided into three parts, a lengthy “Introduction," “Acknowledgement" and “Resolution." They are complemented by Wilson's original composition, “On the Prairie," and the Henry ...

1
Album Review

Tom Tallitsch: Message

Read "Message" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


There is hard bop DNA in tenor and soprano saxophonist Tom Tallitsch's twelfth record as a leader, the third consecutive release for his TT Productions imprint. While it is always tempting to start making comparisons to classic sides from the genre, or to simply dismiss recognizable sounds as old hat in a world bursting with new ideas and concepts, Tallitsch and his associates warrant attention on their own merits. As on two recent recordings, Wheelhouse (Posi-Tone) and Ten ...

6
Album Review

Susie Meissner: Tea for Two

Read "Tea for Two" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Natural but determined evolution makes for well conceived and produced projects. Vocalist Susie Meissner has proved this statement as she progressed from her debut recording I'll Remember April (Lydian Jazz, 2009), through her sophomore effort, I'm Confessin' (Lydian Jazz, 2011) to the present Tea for Two. Using a well-worn repertoire, Meissner, mostly with the support of pianist John Shaddy and his regular rhythm section (bassist Lee Smith and drummer Dan Monaghan), has steadily moved from solid, if not predictable, arrangements ...

6
Album Review

Tom Tallitsch: Ten

Read "Ten" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


Ten is a recording that resides and functions well in a stylistic no man's land. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Tom Tallitsch and his clever band display little interest in paying homage to easily recognizable jazz styles; yet, they don't make a point of abandoning traditional practices either. Taking a stab at some basic descriptions of some of Tallitsch's six compositions--medium tempo swing, skewed jazz-funk, a deliberately paced jazz waltz, Latin-tinged jazz, etc.--amounts to something of a fool's errand. Suffice it ...

9
Interview

Dan Monaghan: The Man Behind The Swing

Read "Dan Monaghan: The Man Behind The Swing" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Dan Monaghan is a working drummer who makes an indispensable contribution to the music by being the one who provides the swing and support that allows the other musicians to achieve their diverse objectives. He performs so often in the Philadelphia area that if you go to a jazz show, there's a fair chance he'll be the drummer. He's a sensitive musician, responsive to everything the players are striving for. He leads from behind. As Mahatma Ghandi said, “I am ...

9
Album Review

Michelle Lordi: Drive

Read "Drive" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


It's difficult to conceive how this wonderful album of restrained and subtly rendered ballads came to be called Drive, a term which leads the listener to expect a package of revved up swing or rock. However, you don't have to be a cryptologist to realize that it comes from the last track, “Drive," which contains the line “Who's gonna drive you home?" This sense of melancholy and hoped for love, like so much of the American Songbook, is the essence ...

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Recording

Brawny-Toned tenorman Dave Wilson releases "One Night At Chris’' (in Philadelphia) with Kirk Reese, Tony Marino and Dan Monaghan

Brawny-Toned tenorman Dave Wilson releases "One Night At Chris’' (in Philadelphia) with Kirk Reese, Tony Marino and Dan Monaghan

Source: All About Jazz

From the One Night At Chris' liner notes by Bill Milkowski As brawny-toned tenor man Dave Wilson said, in reflecting back on this inspired set, “It was a good night!” That’s an understatement. One Night at Chris’ bristles with a kind of visceral energy and sheer burn that lit up the crowd at the famed Chris’ Jazz Cafe in jny: Philadelphia in March of 2018 and makes for invigorating listening now. Wilson’s fifth recording as a leader and first live ...

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

World On A String

BCM&D Records
2023

buy

Message

TT Productions
2021

buy

I'm Forever Blowing...

Outside in Music
2021

buy

Stretching Supreme

Self Produced
2021

buy

Ten

TT Productions
2019

buy

Drive

Self Produced
2015

buy

Zipline

From: Message
By Dan Monaghan

Tuesday Overture

From: At This Time
By Dan Monaghan

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