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Dan DeChellis

Dan DeChellis has been immersed in music from listening, improvising, playing classical, rock and jazz and collecting records for as long as he can remember. His first job was a paperboy, his second was in a record store where his collection and interests grew. He focused on Classical Music in college for knowledge and technique and continued to improvise and discover Jazz, which he loved. He studied Jazz Piano with Laurie Altman and was in jazz bands during his undergraduate and graduate college years. Dan also attended The New England Conservatory in Boston for a period to study with Ran Blake and Paul Bley in the Contemporary Improvisation Department

He formed his label Sachimay Records in Boston in 1997 and released his first two records, “Shapes” and “Real Time” with the DeChellis / Tomasic / Nakatani Trio to great acclaim by the press. The trio performed at Scullers Jazz Club and the Autumn Uprising Festival. In New York City, DeChellis performed regularly with Daniel Carter, Reuben Radding and Dee Pop at CBGB’s, founded the Improvised & Otherwise Festival, and shared the Main Stage with Gerry Hemingway at The Knitting Factory.

For the past 15 years, DeChellis has taught Improvisation and Piano at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. He also has released 5 albums of original music for his piano trio and a number of Improvised Music, Rock and Ambient records with Anita DeChellis, Gary Hassay, Beholder, The Appropriation Committee, Four The Day, Acoustic Kitty Project and The Dana Gaynor Band.

Dan’s varied projects have brought him to many well-known stages such as, Chris’s Jazz Café (Phil), The Stone Pony (NJ), The Knitting Factory (NYC), New Langton Arts (CA), Tonic (NYC), World Café Live (Phil), Wonderbar (NJ), Musikfest (PA).

Gear

Yamaha 525

The Dan DeChellis Trio: Strength And Anger

Read "Strength And Anger" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 7, 2014

On Strength And Anger, Pianist Dan DeChellis' continues his original explorations within the trio format, building on his work on such albums as My Age Of Anxiety (Self Produced, 2012), The Getback (Self Produced, 2009), Organic Material (Self Produced, 2008), and Climbing (Self Produced, 2006). The seventeen songs presented herein--most in the three-to-five minute range--are autobiographical in nature. DeChellis references the highs and lows in his life, looking back fondly on twenty years of marriage ("20 Year ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Dan DeChellis

by AAJ Staff
August 5, 2013

Meet Dan DeChellis:Dan DeChellis' music consists of melody, emotion, energy, and spontaneous adventure. Born on classic rock, schooled in classical music, matured on jazz, and aged with ambient music, DeChellis is a fan of all music and styles. He has released over eight albums of purely improvised music on his own label, Sachimay Records. He is also a member of the Hassay/DeChellis/Nakatani Trio, which has released two records on the German label, Konnex Records. DeChellis is also a ...

Album Review

Dan DeChellis Trio: My Age of Anxiety

Read "My Age of Anxiety" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
July 6, 2012

If anything in jazz approaches the status of a commodity, it would be the piano trio. The inevitable comparisons run the gamut from Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett to Cecil Taylor and, more often than not, those benchmarks are either unattainable or unsustainable. A more accessible measure may be in the ability to differentiate one group's unique contribution from the plethora of similarly structured groups. The Dan DeChellis Trio meets that distinction with its debut, My Age of Anxiety--but here, ...

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Album Review

Dan DeChellis Trio: Organic Material

Read "Organic Material" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
August 30, 2009

Good ideas need to be expanded upon rather than repeated, since even the best of them may lose their appeal with multiple restatements. Dan DeChellis' Organic Matter is full of interesting musical concepts that are not really explored to their fullest; rather, they are repeated with each track multiple times, creating a pleasant, hypnotic effect that, in the end, remains heavy on form and light on substance.

The exception is the the lengthy “You're So Perceptive," which starts off sounding ...

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Album Review

Dan DeChellis: Chamber Music

Read "Chamber Music" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
August 1, 2000

Free jazz (and I mean the really free stuff) can approach pure improvisation. But the more abstract it gets, the more it can also approximate noise. The same can also be said for a lot of the “modern classical" that took off after John Cage. So sometimes it's hard to say exactly what's going on in this kind of music (take Derek Bailey as an occasional example). Chamber Music, officially composed by Dan DeChellis but highly improvisational in its approach, ...

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Performance / Tour

A Night of Jazz with the Dan DeChellis Trio in Bath, PA

Source: All About Jazz
August 27, 2008

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Performance / Tour

Dan Dechellis Trio and the Paul Thiessen Band at Puck in Doylestown Pa on November 29, 2007

Source: All About Jazz
November 23, 2007

“Here and elsewhere, Herbie Hancock's imprint is obvious, as is a strong western classicism. This is not to suggest that DeChellis is simply channeling Hancock, but more a matter of building his own unique voice through the iconic pianist's influence.” AllAboutJazz

“…masterful improvisation…full of interesting musical concepts…”AllAboutJazz

“Substantial and engaging” American Music Guide “Cerebral/visceral music…”Cadence

Primary Instrument

Piano

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

BM in Music (piano performance) MM in Music (piano performance) Private lessons offered in piano, theory, composition Currently on faculty at Moravian College, Bethlehem