* En anglais uniquement
Since 1980 pianist/composer
Dan Siegel has been forging a creative and idiosyncratic path through contemporary jazz, film and television music. 1980's Nite Ride and 1981's Hot Spot his first two albums, appeared on Inner City (the latter topped the jazz charts); they showcased his unique ideas about expanding the boundaries of "smooth jazz" to embrace and enfold new age, pop, world music, soundtrack music, and funk. In 1983, he released a pioneering meld of contemporary jazz-funk and electronic music on Another Time, Another Place in collaboration with percussionist
Alex Acuña and bassist/electronicist
Patrick O'Hearn; it has subsequently been sampled by many hip hop and EDM producers. The influential
Northern Nights followed in 1987. 1991's
Going Home for Epic wed jazz to South African township pop and folk. 1995's
Hemispheres seamlessly integrated jazz with rhythms, melodies, and textures from Brazilian, Caribbean and Latin musics. 2009's funky
Sphere marked the debut release from Dan Siegel Music; it was followed in 2014 by the widely acclaimed
Indigo. 2018's Origins combined jazz, funk, film music, and rock.
Siegel issued
Faraway Place, his 22nd album, in 2021.
Born in Seattle and raised in Eugene, OR,
Siegel started taking piano lessons at age eight and was fronting a rock band as a guitarist at 12. After receiving a degree in composition from the University of Oregon, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In 1979, well-known independent jazz label Inner City Records signed the young keyboardist, releasing 1980's Nite Ride, which featured guitarist
Lee Ritenour.
Siegel's second album for Inner City, 1981's Hot Spot, was more successful. It topped the jazz album charts and spent ten weeks there. That same year he issued Oasis for Japan's Baybridge label. In 1983
Siegel relocated to Los Angeles to pursue film and television work, as well as a more active recording career. He released a well-received self- titled effort for Elektra in 1982 and Reflections, his debut for Pausa the following year. With
Patrick O'Hearn and percussionist
Alex Acuña, he released Another Time, Another Place in 1984, a groundbreaking meld of jazz, new age, and electronic music. In 1985,
Siegel released the charting On The Edge, his final date for Pausa, followed by Tropical Breeze for Japan's Overseas Records.
In addition to releasing his own recordings and doing session work,
Siegel spent half the eighties composing TV and film scores. He wrote the score for the cult films Reform School Girls and Happy Hour (1986), and the TV news series, Hard Copy (1987). Between 1986 and 1991, he composed the forecast music for the Weather Channel and worked as musical director and conductor on the late night CBS TV show, Overtime... with Pat O'Brien (1990).
Siegel has played on numerous TV and film projects, including the Oscar-winning film
The Usual Suspects.
Siegel signed a solo deal with Epic in 1986 and released
Short Stories. The date showcases the beginning of his evolution away from fusion toward contemporary (or "smooth") jazz. That year he founded the jazz-funk supergroup
Birds Of A Feather with
Acuña,
Richard Elliot,
Carl Verheyen, John Robinson, and
Neil Stubenhaus and released their eponymously titled debut in 1987. The same year
Siegel played piano on the self-titled outing by Future Prospect, an all-star fusion project that also included guitarist
Grant Geissman. He also released a pair of solo outings: Future Prospect for jazz indie Optimism and
Northern Nights for CBS Associated. The latter album was a lodestone reference point for contemporary jazz recordings over the next decade.
Late One Night -- featuring
Birds Of A Feather and many others -- appeared in 1989.
In 1991
Siegel released the stellar
Going Home for Epic. Its lineup included vocalist
Kenny Rankin, bassists
Brian Bromberg and
Alex Al, guitarist Robert Bacon, percussionist
Lenny Castro, drummer
Dave Hooper, and saxophonists
Boney James and
Jeff Kashiwa. It marked the first time
Siegel actively allowed the influence of South African township music and Brazilian rhythms into his music. He followed with The Getaway for indie Sin-Drome Records in 1993, a small group jazz-funk outing that also made use of Brazilian music. The second
Birds Of A Feather outing titled
Above The Clouds, appeared in 1994. By the time
Siegel released 1995's widely acclaimed
Hemispheres, he had inextricably woven Caribbean and Latin rhythms and textures with those of South and West Africa as well as Brazil into his lyrical brand of contemporary jazz.
Stand Together, the third and final outing from
Birds Of A Feather was released in 1997.
Siegel concluded the 20th century with urban-flavored jazz-pop outing
Clairvoyance for Countdown in 1998.
In 2000, Epic released the compilation
Along The Way: The Best Of Dan Siegel, and it reached the jazz album charts. Meanwhile, the pianist was busy doing session work and touring. He released the live Key of Joy for Japan's M&I label. He joined the roster of Southern California's Native Language Music for
Inside Out. That album that marked a formal return to smooth, funky, contemporary jazz. The title track, "Crossroads" and "This Time Around," all registered airplay while the album charted.
Siegel went organic for 2006's
Departure. Also on Native Language Music, the set offered 11 new compositionss performed on acoustic piano with a band that included bassist and co-producer
Bromberg, drummers/percussionists
Lenny Castro and
Vinnie Colaiuta, saxophonist
Bob Sheppard, and vocalist
Bill Cantos, plus a selectively utilized string ensemble. Its single "Street Talk" spent most of the year on the smooth jazz charts. In 2008, Native Language Music issued
Fables by the
Dan Siegel Project.
2009's acclaimed, pristinely recorded longplayer
Sphere marked the inaugural release on Dan Siegel Music. In addition to
Sheppard, it included contributions from saxophonists
Tom Scott and
Gary Meek. It would be five years before
Siegel followed it up with
Indigo. An impeccably recorded cross between contemporary jazz and staightahead postbop, the set's title track spent more than 20 weeks inside the top 20 on the smooth jazz songs chart. In 2019
Siegel returned to slicker climes with Origins, a polished set that crisscrossed contemporary jazz, silky funk, and lithe rock, with breezy Latin, Andalusian, and Brazilian rhythmic grooves. Its single "After All," spent more than 23 weeks on the charts.
Given 2020's COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant global quarantine,
Siegel remotely assembled a band to record
Faraway Place, his 22nd album. All tracks were demoed and developed rhythmically by drummers
Vinnie Colaiuta, and
Steve Gadd at East West Studios in LA. These were the only sessions
Siegel was physically present for. He sent files of what they did to the other musicians he chose: saxophonist
Eric Marienthal, trumpeter/trombonist
Lee Thornburg, guitarist
Allen Hinds, acoustic bassist
Bromberg, electric bassists Abraham Laboriel and Dwyane "Smitty" Smith, percussionist
Lenny Castro, and Brazilian vocalist
Rogerio Jardim.
Siegel later added his piano --as well as an accordion on four cuts -- building out his mix with the rhythm tracks as guideposts for his melodies, then slowly added multiple layers of instrumentation to achieve a maximal result.
Faraway Place was released in August 2021. ~ Thom Jurek