DANIEL STARK
Daniel Stark was born in New Haven, CT in October 8th, 1982. He began learning jazz after being influenced by Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, as well as newer jazz icons like James Carter, Mark Turner, and Joshua Redman. Studies with accomplished local teachers like Klyph Johnson (Steely Dan) and Jesse Hameen (Tito Puente, George Coleman) as well as an artistic debut at the New Haven Jazz Festival, and a scholarship to the Eastman Summer Jazz program, set the stage for his continued studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Stark describes how he followed the advice of his hometown teacher when arriving in New Jersey’s Rutgers music department – “He told me to follow the instructors around tirelessly, from class to class and even from their office to the parking lot, and never stop asking for lessons no matter how many times they turned me down.” This persistence succeeded in getting Stark accepted into the studio of prestigious saxophone instructor Ralph Bowen, with whom Stark would later work as a graduate student, as well as into the classes of pianist Stanley Cowell and legendary trumpet instructor William “Prof” Fielder.
After completing an undergraduate degree, Phi Beta Kappa and with an English major, Stark decided to take a step back from the New York scene by moving across the country to San Francisco. Says Stark “The scene in the Bay embraced so much of what New York tossed aside… Relaxed swing feel was a priority. Learning old standards from movies and Broadway, not just jazz records or sessions. But also, the community there was really strong, people playing together and hanging out all the time, not in competition, but pushing each other to improve musically and never accept mediocrity.” While in San Francisco, Stark would perform and sit in with some of the area’s greats including Marcus Shelby, Mike Olmos, and Howard Wiley.
He was also awarded a scholarship to study jazz production with Orrin Keepnews (Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins) gaining valuable first-hand knowledge of the working and playing styles of some of the great masters of the jazz tradition. “Orrin taught me that a lot of what happened in the music, wasn’t a given. A lot of planning and rehearsal went into making the records we take for granted, even into just keeping the bands together and getting everyone to the studio. I learned that even classic records were made on a budget, and with a timeline. And also learned that even on that high level, dealing with people effectively on a personal level was the way to open doors professionally and facilitate the creation of great art.”
In 2011, Stark returned to Rutgers, this time to work with Ralph Bowen in a more formal context as a graduate student. By the time he graduated two years later, with a 4.0 GPA and a master’s degree in jazz performance, he deepened his technical understanding of the instrument as well as his creative understanding of the art of music, and was ready to continue his career as a performer with renewed intention and artistic integrity. “Grad school taught me how much I didn’t know. In terms of intonation, tone projection, rhythmic precision, and even swing – the margin of error in all these areas is just that much smaller when studying music at that high level.”
Since arriving in Durham in 2013, Stark has performed in many of the area’s leading concert halls, including DPAC, the Carolina Theater, and Duke University’s Baldwin Auditorium, in addition to being a frequent performer at smaller jazz clubs like the Beyu Caffe, C-Grace, and The Shed, where Stark currently works as artistic director and bartender. He has performed locally with John Brown, Nneena Freelon, Joe Chambers, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Daniel Stark was born in New Haven, CT in October 8th, 1982. He began learning jazz after being influenced by Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, as well as newer jazz icons like James Carter, Mark Turner, and Joshua Redman. Studies with accomplished local teachers like Klyph Johnson (Steely Dan) and Jesse Hameen (Tito Puente, George Coleman) as well as an artistic debut at the New Haven Jazz Festival, and a scholarship to the Eastman Summer Jazz program, set the stage for his continued studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Stark describes how he followed the advice of his hometown teacher when arriving in New Jersey’s Rutgers music department – “He told me to follow the instructors around tirelessly, from class to class and even from their office to the parking lot, and never stop asking for lessons no matter how many times they turned me down.” This persistence succeeded in getting Stark accepted into the studio of prestigious saxophone instructor Ralph Bowen, with whom Stark would later work as a graduate student, as well as into the classes of pianist Stanley Cowell and legendary trumpet instructor William “Prof” Fielder.
After completing an undergraduate degree, Phi Beta Kappa and with an English major, Stark decided to take a step back from the New York scene by moving across the country to San Francisco. Says Stark “The scene in the Bay embraced so much of what New York tossed aside… Relaxed swing feel was a priority. Learning old standards from movies and Broadway, not just jazz records or sessions. But also, the community there was really strong, people playing together and hanging out all the time, not in competition, but pushing each other to improve musically and never accept mediocrity.” While in San Francisco, Stark would perform and sit in with some of the area’s greats including Marcus Shelby, Mike Olmos, and Howard Wiley.
He was also awarded a scholarship to study jazz production with Orrin Keepnews (Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins) gaining valuable first-hand knowledge of the working and playing styles of some of the great masters of the jazz tradition. “Orrin taught me that a lot of what happened in the music, wasn’t a given. A lot of planning and rehearsal went into making the records we take for granted, even into just keeping the bands together and getting everyone to the studio. I learned that even classic records were made on a budget, and with a timeline. And also learned that even on that high level, dealing with people effectively on a personal level was the way to open doors professionally and facilitate the creation of great art.”
In 2011, Stark returned to Rutgers, this time to work with Ralph Bowen in a more formal context as a graduate student. By the time he graduated two years later, with a 4.0 GPA and a master’s degree in jazz performance, he deepened his technical understanding of the instrument as well as his creative understanding of the art of music, and was ready to continue his career as a performer with renewed intention and artistic integrity. “Grad school taught me how much I didn’t know. In terms of intonation, tone projection, rhythmic precision, and even swing – the margin of error in all these areas is just that much smaller when studying music at that high level.”
Since arriving in Durham in 2013, Stark has performed in many of the area’s leading concert halls, including DPAC, the Carolina Theater, and Duke University’s Baldwin Auditorium, in addition to being a frequent performer at smaller jazz clubs like the Beyu Caffe, C-Grace, and The Shed, where Stark currently works as artistic director and bartender. He has performed locally with John Brown, Nneena Freelon, Joe Chambers, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.