Danilo Pérez

Danilo Pérez (born December 29, 1965) is a Panamanian pianist, composer, educator, and a social activist.

His music is a blend of Panamanian roots with elements of Latin American folk music, jazz, European impressionism, African, and other musical heritages that promote music as a multi-dimensional bridge between people.

He has released eleven albums as a leader, and appeared on many recordings as a side man, which have earned him critical acclaim, numerous accolades, Grammy Awards wins and nominations.

Born in Panama in 1965, Danilo Pérez started his musical studies at the age of three with his father, Danilo Enrico Pérez Urriola, an elementary and middle school educator and well known Panamanian singer.

In 1967 his father wrote a university thesis which stated that the entire curriculum should be taught through music.

He used these techniques to teach his son mathematics, science and other subjects through music, therefore rhythm and interconnective learning became the foundation of Perez's youth.

By age 10, Pérez was studying the European classical piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama.

In 1985 Pérez was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States.

After initially enrolling at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Pérez quickly transferred to the Berklee College of Music after being awarded the Quincy Jones Scholarship.

While still a student, he performed with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D'Rivera.

Pérez received a degree in jazz composition and upon graduation he began touring and recording with artists such as Jack DeJohnette, Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, and Roy Haynes.

In 1989, two events occurred that have proven of lasting influence on both Pérez's creative practice as well as his thinking regarding music as a tool for social change.

That year Pérez became the youngest member appointed to Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra.

"He really showed me the power of music as a diplomatic tool, the power of music in intercultural dialogue", says Pérez of Gillespie, "He constantly asked me who are you, how are you and wanted a non-musical answer, he wanted to hear about your life where you come from. How you speak, and how you dance. He encouraged us to use music in a creative ways to respond to all these questions".

He wanted to be remembered as a humanitarian.

This was my first experience with jazz as something beyond a style of music.

"I remember one time playing a solo, and I was very proud of playing in the bebop language, everybody was complimenting me, but Dizzy said: 'That's good young man, but you can bring some more of your Panamanian folklore into it. "I will never forget that."

In December, 1989 he returned to his native Panama to perform for the first time with his own ensemble made up of musicians from the United States and Spain.

About the engagement Pérez says, "The concert got cancelled because two days after the band arrived, the US invaded Panama. The entire country was scared. We were fearful of the military intervention and the future was uncertain. But we all decided to improvise and face the unknown, as it happens in jazz, and we went forward with the concert, in the middle of the US invasion. With our musical shield, we were confident no bullets could enter our spirit. The club was packed with people for and against the invasion who got together and decided to celebrate life. We laughed, hugged, and cried. On that day we had a country (in a small club) without an invasion for 2 hours. I learned then that the power of music could be an antidote against war, misunderstanding, hate and suffering, and that music is one of the most effective tools to redirect humanity in the quest for peace".

Pérez started on piano when he was three years old.

At ten, he studied at the National Conservatory in Panama.

By age 12, he was working professionally as a musician.

He moved to the U.S. to study music, attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania and then switching to the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

At Berklee, he worked with Jon Hendricks, Claudio Roditi, and Terence Blanchard.

In 1989, Pérez became a member of Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra.

The album Live at the Royal Festival Hall won a Grammy Award.

Pérez remained a member of the United Nation Orchestra until Gillespie's passing in 1992.

He remained with the band until Gillespie died in 1992.

In 1993 Pérez turned his focus to his own work as a bandleader and composer and has gone on to release eleven albums as a leader.

Perez released his first album, Danilo Perez, on the Novus label.

In 1994, at the age of 27, Perez released what is considered his most personal album, The Journey, a musical account of the torturous trip enslaved Africans made across the oceans in the hulls of the slave ships.

The album made it to the top ten jazz lists of New York's Village Voice, the New York Times, Billboard, and the Boston Globe.

It also allowed Perez to become a recognizable name in the jazz community.

Critics have hailed The Journey, Perez's second recording, for its quality of composition and incorporation of Pan-African influences into a jazz context.

Perez set up the album as a dream series tracing the route of slaves, stolen or sold from their homes and transported across the sea.

The Journey begins with "The Capture", makes its way through "The Taking", "Chains", "The Voyage", and finishes with "Libre Spiritus".

According to Minstrel Music Network, "On The Journey, Perez ... seeks to blur the distinctions between musical styles, through his all-encompassing vision, and (by implication) to eradicate the distinctions between those people native to the Americas, and the Africans and Europeans who mixed with them to cast the alloy of multiculturalism."

In 1995 Pérez was appointed to the faculty of the New England Conservatory.

In October 1998, he told 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 own roots are, than to learn about other things."

He is a recipient of the United States Artists Fellowship, and the 2009 Smithsonian Legacy Award.