Dan
Knight, pianist
 Visit Dan's Web site
Jazz
is America's Classical Music - its contribution to world culture.
And Dan Knight is one of its most capable proponents. A member
of the Worldwide Steinway Artist Roster, an honor reserved
for a select few of the world's best pianists, Dan is "quietly
establishing a place for himself among the masters of jazz
piano."
He's earning an international reputation as a warm, engaging
person whose personality and musicianship fills concert halls
and jazz clubs alike.
He's performed and studied with some of the greatest musicians
of this or any time: Wynton Marsalis, Max Roach, and his mentor,
the incomparable Dr. Billy Taylor.
By the time he was three years old Danny Knight knew every
song on the "Hit Parade", and could sing any melody he heard
after hearing it once. He began playing keyboard instruments
at age four by singing the melodies he knew and matching the
pitches on his older sister's chord organ, which he wasn't
permitted to play.
His ability became known to his family when they visited an
aunt who owned a piano. His older sister and a cousin had
attempted to play the "Dragnet" theme on the piano, with no
success. After they gave up, Danny walked to the piano and
played the theme. Correctly. His parents went home and bought
a piano.
By the time his mother persuaded Mrs. George Maither, a local
piano instructor and former student of Paderewski, to take
him as a student, his repertoire included television show
themes, church hymns, and a two-handed, boogie-woogie version
of "Sentimental Journey."
His teacher discovered his interest in jazz after he heard
Brubeck's "Take Five" for the first time, when he ran to her
house to ask if it was possible to have five counts in a measure.
As she lectured him regarding the evils of jazz, he determined
to learn to play it on his own.
He transcribed every jazz recording he could find. He swept
floors in a second-hand store in exchange for 78 rpm recordings
of Art Tatum and Fats Waller.
Steinway Artist Dan Knight has performed with some of the
giants of jazz. A protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor, he performs
internationally as a soloist and with his own trio.
Information provided by Jazz
Society of Eastern Iowa |
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