Danilo Pérez
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Danilo Pérez was born in Panama in 1965.
Danilo started his musical training at 3 years old with his father Danilo Sr, a professional bandleader and singer, gave Danilo Jr. his first set of bongos. By the time he was 10 years of age he was studying the European Classical Piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama, eventually transferring to the Berklee College of Music to study Jazz composition and then serving as a professor at the New England Conservatory of Music. While growing up in Panama, Perez was notably influenced by the works of Gershwin, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and his mentor in spirit Thelonious Monk.
When Danilo Perez moved to the United States his prominence increased immensely. He played with living jazz legends who played a key role in shaping Perez's technique and style. Between 1985 and 1988, while being a student at Berklee, Perez played with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D'Rivera. He also was part of the Grammy winning album, Danzon. Wynton Marsalis asked Perez to tour Poland with his band in 1995; Danilo Perez was the first Latin artist to perform with Marsalis. For the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Perez and Marsalis played together again. He performed as a special guest at President Clinton's Inaugural Ball, and played the piano on the Bill Cosby theme song.
He also played with Dizzy Gillespie, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Sibongile Khumalo, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Gerardo Núñez, Wynton Marsalis, John Patitucci, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, Wayne Shorter, Roy Haynes, Steve Lacy, Ben Street, Adam Cruz, and others.
A resident of Boston, Danilo Perez serves as the artistic director of the Berklee College of Music Global Jazz Institute, a program for talented jazz students from around the world.
Influences
Conceivably Perez's biggest influence in terms of style and thought was Dizzy Gillespie. Perez had the opportunity to perform with Gillespie and his United Nations Orchestra from 1989 until the band leader’s death in 1992. Perez states in a press report for the Independent that "One of the things Dizzy taught me was to learn about my own heritage even more than I knew already. He said it was more important for jazz for you to get to what your roots are, than to learn about other things". Danilo assimilated the bebop and post-bop styles. He was also a member of the Grammy winning record Live At The Royal Festival Other influential studies that Perez has achieved have been his album for Impulse! records, PanaMonk, which is a study of and tribute to Thelonious Monk.
