“…curling his sinewy lines that refuse to be intimidated.”
“The guy takes off like a terrified, electrified swallow, painting notes in places you weren’t expecting to hear them.”
“Dan Magay’s alto sax snags your imagination and makes you forget everything around you except the music. The guy’s dynamite.”
“A conversational approach to the alto very akin to that of Eric Dolphy — from fierce screams to lilting melody, short staccato bursts of pure energy, or long sinewy lines of bebop-like convolution.”
“A free-sax blast of sound gripping in its precision and energy — a real breath of fresh air, even if it hits your eardrums at dangerous velocities.”
About Dan
Dan Magay
Steeped in modern and traditional jazz, classical music, Indian ragas, Brazilian bossa nova and choro, rock, funk, African, experimental and various fusions, Dan Magay is a fresh voice in saxophones, flute, and clarinet since he returned to the West Coast from New York in 2005.
Born in Los Altos, California, Dan grew up surrounded by music. He started clarinet studies at age 9 and added saxophone at age 10. During his high school years he studied clarinet with Don Carol (San Francisco Symphony), Bill Menkin, and Michael Corner - and saxophone with Mary Fettig, Mel Martin, Burt Corelli and Rory Snyder. While in high school Dan performed with his own classical wind quintet, jazz combo, the California Youth Symphony, the Monterey Jazz Festival Big Band, and many All State Wind Orchestras and All State Jazz Bands.
From 1988-90 Dan attended the University of Southern California as a music major, where he studied privately with clarinetist Yahooda Gilad (Los Angeles Philharmonic), classical saxophone with Doug Masek and jazz with Bob Sheppard - along with many other inspiring teachers.
In 1991 he transferred to the Berklee College of Music (Boston) in order to focus more on jazz performance. At Berklee he studied privately with George Garzone, Bill Pierce, Joe Viola, Jerry Bergonzi, Hal Crook and continued studying classical clarinet with Peter Cokinias. He graduated magna cum laude in 1994. After leaving Berklee, Dan continued his education with Victor Morosco on saxophone, clarinet and flute. Presently Dan is studying classical Indian music with Satish Gadagkar.
Dan moved to New York in 2000 and helped form “The Hub” along with Tim Dahl and Sean Noonan - an eclectic jazz trio that toured extensively in Europe, Japan and the U.S. from 2000-2004. Dan also continued to soak up the hybrid of grooves, world music and avant-garde, experimental and mainstream rock and jazz. He played tenor, alto, soprano saxophones, clarinet and flute in a variety of musical contexts with various bands including African music with Thierno Camara, Brazilian music with Sylvana Magda and lots of straight-ahead jazz.
He moved back to the Bay Area in 2005 and has been performing with a wide array of groups spanning vast ranges of styles and sounds, including the Fil Lorenz Jazz Orchestra, the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Funky Buela, The Avatar Ensemble, the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, the Ernie Smalls Jazz Orchestra, Chester Smith, Donald Bailey, as well as groups of his own such as the Wind Up Trio.
He also teaches extensively.
The bands - past & present.
The trio record. Clarinet, bass and guitar.
A punk-jazz trio from downtown New York. Played Northsix in Williamsburg and shared stages with Marc Ribot.
Three records in three years: Accident (2001), Trucker (2002, Innova Recordings 579 - cut live-to-tape at Systems Two, Brooklyn; mixed by Rich Keller, mastered by James Cruz at Sony Music Studios; photography by Dan Magay & Lucy Walters), and Live at Gugalander (2003), pressed from the European tour that also reached Japan.
From a German review of Trucker, translated:
"The boundaries between jazz and metal are fluid. So it is time to look at the other side: jazz that could just as easily be metal. The Hub, from New York, are what I would call exactly that."
"Then there is Dan Magay’s saxophone, which does full justice to John Zorn and his Naked City project as an influence - and not only because of the Napalm Death shirt he is wearing in the booklet. From quiet tones on “O’Brien” to dominant parts on “Baby”, he delivers a virtuoso performance."
"These guys beat any metal band. Top class."
Standards and originals, all over the Bay. Late sets at Zingari.
Big-band swing. Listen to “Drunk in San Francisco.”
A regular horn seat around the Bay, from weddings to festivals.
From the Monterey Jazz Festival Big Band to the Burning Man Jazz Café.
A band of friends with an international following.
Dates
Get on the listUpcoming shows. Past dates are in the archive below.
The archive.
Past shows and collaborations from twenty-five years, on two coasts and on tour. Not a complete list.
The Set
A few tracks. There's more on SoundCloud and Spotify.
Book
Dan
Bring Dan to your stage. Duos, trios or a full band. Tell Dan the date, the place and what you have in mind. Rider on request.