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David W. Daniels

Jazz Fan Since The Mid 1970s

About Me

Born in Anchorage, Alaska in 1959. My father and mother exposed me to a wide range of musical genres as a youth. In my mid-teens, I developed a fascination as a listener with jazz music, primarily due to a commercial FM radio station that was active at the time. I mostly was into what was current at the time--primarily music from the CTI catalog and the soft end of fusion e.g. Steely Dan, Tom Scott and the LA Express, and the Crusaders.

While I spent most of my life outside of the music industry, I still maintained a healthy interest in concertgoing and in music of all genres, including jazz. Although I had taken violin lessons in grade school and some piano in high school, I never developed proficiency on an instrument myself but appreciated the sound of talented musicianship. Moving to Los Angeles, California to attend college in 1977 increased my exposure to all forms of jazz, both on the radio and in live performance. After living in several different locations (Midland, TX in the early 80s; San Diego, CA in the mid 80s through the early 90s; Warren, OH for a very brief period in the 90s; then back in the Los Angeles area from 1992 through 2001), I finally settled in the Atlanta, GA metro area and have been here ever since. Through all the moves and relocations, I kept my interest in most forms of musical expression but especially jazz.

Although most of my jazz exposure from the 1970s through the mid-90s was of the lighter type and was the hybrid known as “smooth music”, I began to explore the history of jazz starting with the swing era through bebop, hard bop, modal, free, and “new traditional”. This listening and exploration increased and culminated in becoming a DJ at an Atlanta community radio station beginning in 2019. While I played a wide variety of music “on air”-- traditional, neo-traditional, and fusion jazz were always my favorites and as a result not only did I listen (and enjoy) more of that type of music, I did more research about the specific artists and the circumstances surrounding their creation of the music.

Due to some differences with some of the management policies at the community station, I decided to strike out on my own with several like-minded DJs and created “The Jazz Forum Plus Music Channel at Mixcloud.com” in March of this year (2025). While I coordinate all of our podcasts, I am creatively responsible for one of our weekly programs--Exploration, which has a new edition every Thursday evening and features jazz music from the 1950s through current. Most of the content would be classified as hard bop and post-bop music, but we always include at least one track that could be classified as fusion and a smattering of vocal jazz throughout the program.

My Jazz Story

My House Concert Story

On July 12th, 2025, I attended a jazz concert by a young vocalist who goes by the name of Lavahi at a home concert in Marietta, GA (a suburb of Atlanta, and where I reside). Her singing had strong influences that to my ears were midway between Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter--a bit more dynamic than the former but not as acrobatic as the latter. The venue ("Carrie's Corner") is an outdoor backyard with a well-developed stage area and seating that slopes upwards. While the acts that are booked primarily lean towards Americana, their schedule normally includes 2 or 3 acts per year in either the jazz or blues idiom. As an outdoor venue, the only downside is the possibility of inclement weather. In our area, that means either extreme heat or thunderstorms--neither of which occurred for the night of the concert. Lavahi and her supporting trio (keyboards, bass, and drums) were very well practiced and talented. Seeing and hearing a band with the ability to improvise well on jazz standards in an intimate setting with only 30 or so others made for a very special evening, indeed! Quite a contrast to the annual Atlanta Jazz Festival that occurs over Memorial Day weekend, which always has attendance in the thousands and sometimes results in a "buffer" between the musicians and the audience (and a lot of extraneous distractions). Don't get me wrong--the big festivals are a lot of fun, but sometimes the music and communication between the musicians and the audience gets lost in the shuffle. Not so with a home concert such as this one!

My Favorite Local Jazz Venues & Festivals