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Dennis Bell

Gold/Platinum Award winning pianist/producer/conductor/composer

About Me

Dennis Bell is a gold and platinum award-winning pianist, producer, arranger, composer, conductor and music educator. Graduate of the High School of Music & Art, New York University  (B Mus with Fredric Kurzweil, John Motley) and CUNY Queens College (MA in Composition with George Perle, Hugo Weisgal and Leo Kraft), Dennis has produced records by Doug E Fresh/Slick Rick, Dave Valentin, New Voices of Freedom, U2, Touché, Lynette Washington and others, was musical director/conductor/re-arranger for the international tour of the B’way musical Jesus Christ Superstar, has written jingles for the Drakes, Hardees, Roy Rogers, and Nabisco companies.

His modern dance scores have been performed by the New York City Ballet, Sidra Bell Dance NY, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Austin, CCDT, the Vancouver Arts Umbrella, Miami’s New World School of the Arts, MET Dance Houston, Peridance NY, Dallas Black Dance Theater, U Cal Long Beach, University of Utah, BPAC, River North Chicago Dance, Yale University, LaGuardia HS of Music & Art , Ball State University, University of Mass 5 College Dance Department, University of Texas, Perry Mansfield, Ailey II, Goucher College, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Southern Illinois University and a host of other Performing Arts Centers. He was the recipient of a Live Music for Dance grant from New Music USA for “Remembrance”, a composition for String Quartet and Piano for the choreography of world renowned choreographer Sidra Bell. The piece, “Shrines”, has been performed by Sidra Bell Dance New York, with live music, at The Baruch Performing Arts Center, the 92nd Street Y in NYC and for the Boston Jewish Music Festival.

He has produced and worked with Bassists: Marcus Miller, Alex Blake, Eddie Jones, Noriko Ueda, Nobert Sloley, Lisle Atkinson, Pete Chivily, Sekou Bunch, Paul Beaudry; Drummers: Buddy Williams, Steve Jordan, Anton Fig, Jeff Porcaro, Charlie Drayton, Abe Fogle, Kenwood Dennard, Victor Jones, Tommy Campbell, Larry Mullen Jr., Elijah Wood, John Sussewell; Guitarists: Sal Salvador, The Edge, Dave Fields, John Cariddi, Steve Lukather; Saxophonists: Casey Benjamin, Nick Brignola, Gerry Niewood, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Bruce Williams; Keyboardists: Billy Preston, Dave Grusin, Instrumentalists: Buddy Morrow, Dave Valentin, Mark Wood, Kenyatta Beasley, Pepper Adams, Alex Foster, Dave Chamberlain, Paulhino DaCosta; Singers and bands: Celia Cruz, U2, New Voices of Freedom, Lynette Washington, Phyllis Hyman, Patti Austin, Pantheon, Boston Public String Quartet, The Summit String Quartet and a host of others.

He has performed and conducted in Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls, Madison Square Garden, the UN etc, appeared on the Joan Rivers Show, New York at Night, MTV VMA’s, A Salute to Israel, a variety of music videos, and the movies U2, Rattle and Hum & Scrooged (Paramount Picture).

Dennis is CEO of City Slicker Productions, Mark of Aries Music (BMI) and record label GuavaJamm Entertainment, Inc. He is a long time Music Educator, winner of the 2012 ArtsWestchester Artist of the year award, CEO of the CSP Music School and was an Adjunct Professor of Music and Music Technology at Mercy College and Conductor of the Mercy College Community Choir. His compositions have been published through Alfred Music, Sheet Music Plus and Mark of Aries Music (BMI). Dennis was a long time Yamaha Influential Artist.

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My Jazz Story

I love jazz because it's our unique American, musical, cultural expression. I was first exposed to jazz by my father. The best show I ever attended was my first night at Birdland at 16 hearing the Count Basie Orchestra in the '50s. The first jazz record I bought was Dave Brubeck Trio with Cal Tjader. My advice to new listeners: come back to jazz, America's music. Ken Burns' Jazz series can help your understanding of our unique culture.

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