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Dan Zemelman

Dan Zemelman is a San Francisco based jazz pianist who leads a dynamic and original sounding Quartet

About Me

I began at age 5 as a classically trained pianist who developed a passion for jazz in my early adulthood. I studied jazz with Richard Davis at University of Wisconsin/Madison and received 'Best Jazz Artist at UW Madison' in 1996. In 1998, as part of the Kennedy Center’s prestigious Jazz Ambassadors program, I toured India and Sri Lanka sponsored by the U.S. State Department, representing America’s jazz tradition through teaching and performance. After moving from Chicago to the Bay Area in 2001, I was fortunate to contribute to John Lee Hooker’s studio album Face to Face and tour S. America with daughter, Zakiya Hooker. I currently play regularly with the bay area's great bassist/composer Marcus Shelby as well as with my own quartet featuring Andrew Emer on bass (toured with Lee Konitz), Erik Jekabson on trumpet (toured with Jon Mayer) and Alan Hall (played w/Eddie Harris, Art Lande, Paul McCandless and Billy Childs) on drums, who have all recently accompanied me at Yoshi’s Oakland. My Quartet debuted at Yoshi's last February, 2009 with a successful CD release party and continued that trend by playing for SF Jazz's Summerfest series as well as receiving an honorary position as an alternate band for Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rhythm Road 2010 music abroad program. I will be on the faculty at Jazzcamp West this year (and 2008) and have been on the faculty of the Jazzschool of Berkeley for 4 years.

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