Danny Grewen
Biography
Trombonist/Composer Danny Grewen blows with a clean, tasteful power, encompassing both a modernist’s edge and a traditionalist’s love for bebop and blues. His warm, open sound, graceful soloing and assured, selfless ensemble work make him one of the most in-demand trombonists on deep and varied the San Francisco Area music scene.
Grewen’s two most visible musical associations highlight grandly his talents as a swinging, clear-toned mainstream player. For the last three years, the young trombonist has appeared regularly as featured performer with the Marcus Shelby Orchestra, one of the most dynamic and influential big bands in the Bay Area. And each Monday night at Bruno’s down in San Francisco’s Mission District, Grewen flies with the post-bop Eaton-Barics Quintet, a knockout ensemble of Shelby Orchestra members (including Shelby himself on bass). ”I’ve been trying to develop a solid tone that’s expressive and bluesy,” says Grewen of his trombone playing. “I like to say something lyrically when I play. To create a melody, to hook up with the rhythm section and really swing, that’s where it’s at for me. I want to create a sound that a listener can grab onto.”
Grewen is also a musician of great versatility. He plays salsa with Bay Area ensembles Avante and Orchestra L’Averdade, sits in regularly with the hip hop/jazz groups Realistic Orchestra and Bustamente and is a regular call for Bay Area progressive jazz stars like saxophonists Howard Wiley and Mitch Marcus. He even performs at traditional Chinatown funerals with the Green Street Mortuary Band. It’s at those Monday night Bruno’s sessions that Grewen has come into his own as a singer of standards. As a vocalist, Grewen delivers from the heart, with an honest, unadorned style that harkens directly to his lifelong love of Frank Sinatra and suggests the wistful directness of Chet Baker.
Mention of the Sinatra inspiration makes Grewen laugh and recall, sitting his room in high school, singing along to Songs for Swingin’ Lovers. His influences, Grewen says, are singers he feels are real storytellers. He names Joe Williams, Sara Vaughn. Mel Torme. Sammy Davis, Jr.
San Francisco musical roots
Danny Grewen was born in San Francisco in 1977. He was first drawn to performing as a sixth grader at Herbert Hoover Middle School, a San Francisco middle school known for its excellent music program. Grewen made the band as a saxophonist, but the orchestra needed trombone players, and Grewen was one of the few in the room with the reach to play the instrument. ”The first time I blew a note through a trombone,” he recalls, “there was really loud, big sound. I could feel it reverberating throughout the room, and I just started laughing. It was a good feeling from the beginning.” Inspired, Grewen kept at the horn and was accepted to San Francisco’s prestigious School of the Arts High School. There he came under the tutelage local trombone master Wayne Wallace.”The time I spent with Wayne Wallace was really important to me,” Grewen says. in the jazz band and private lessons. He’d teach me Charlie Parker tunes, teach me about theory and about jazz improvisation.”
Wallace (2010 Grammy Nominee) also plugged Grewen in to the mastery of trombonist J. J. Johnson, presenting the student with an inspiration that continues still to course through his music. Grewen’s prowess as a high school player is underscored by his selection, for three years running, to the National Grammy Band (look up real name).
A New York education and a trip to sea
Grewen made the fabled pilgrimage to New York City for his college years, studying at the Manhattan School of Music alongside future stars like Jason Moran, Stefon Harris and Jane Monheit. His trombone instructors included Steve Turre and Jake Gale. During those years (1995-98), Grewen led an ensemble at a Greenwich Village cabaret club called the Duplex. But like many a young musician before him, the conclusion of Grewen’s college days found him scuffling for work. Remaining in New York, he spent time as a singing, trombone playing waiter and even followed the honorable, if lonely, pursuit of playing solo on street corners. It was during one of those solo outdoor recitals that Grewen’s first break came. A booking agent for Princess Cruises heard Grewen playing in Times Square and stopped to listen and chat. A week later, Grewen found himself on a plane to Acapulco to join a show band on an ocean liner, the beginning of a two-year run of concentrated, high-level performing, as a trombonist and a singer in big bands and show bands, while sailing from the Mexican Riviera to New Zealand to Alaska.
Returning to San Francisco roots
In 2000, Grewen brought career back home, where he soon found a home in the Marcus Shelby Orchestra and began making him known throughout the local jazz community. ”One thing that’s very important to me as a trombone player is the history of the jazz trombone,” says Grewen. “Not just J. J., but Curtis Fuller, Frank Rosolino, Josh Roseman, Wayne Wallace. Kid Ory and Jack Teagarden, too. Being a part of that is very important to me. Just getting to play the trombone around San Francisco is an honor.” In 2008 Danny Grewen Co-founded the sextet HORACE-SCOPE. A premier hard-bop band primarily inspired by the innovative musical works of the great Horace Silver. Reminiscent of those hard swingin’ 1960′s Blue Note albums, HORACE-SCOPE is instrumental in continuing to lead the legacy of jazz with their every performance. Recent performance include Yoshi’s SF, Club Deluxe (local landmark located at San Francisco’s world Famous Haight-Ashbury intersection), The Make Out Room and others. HS has also performed in acclaimed festivals such as SFJAZZ Festival, Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Workshop and currently prepping a new album recorded live @ the JazzSchool in Berkeley, CA.
“Danny Grewen resonates in Prosper Street with passionate horn harmonies” - San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Danny Grewen is one of the most talented and best musicians working in the San Francisco Bay Area today. His balanced approach to music incorporates a clear understanding of history with a forward thinking perspective. It is a real joy to work with Danny in any context whether he is leading trombone in a jazz orchestra setting, or as a wonderful vocalist in front of a jazz trio. This release is a well deserved documentation of Grewen at such an early point in his promising career.” -Marcus Shelby, MSO
