He is a clarinettist, saxophonist, flutist and composer born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn. He listened to many jazz songs while young and started to play the alto saxophone. This led to him also performing on the clarinet by the time he was 13 yeas old and two years later he participated in the youth competition at the Newport Jazz Festival. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and studied the clarinet for his time in high school and college. He entered the Juilliard School where he majored in clarinet but also studied the flute which would assist him in getting a job on Broadway.
He continued with his career as a musician and was awarded the Clarinet Award by the music magazine Downbeat in 1968. He has since appeared many time on television and performed with many singers, ensembles, bands and orchestras.
As a saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist he worked with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra for six years from 1966 and from the 1980s he focused mainly on the clarinet. He won a Grammy Award for Roger Kellaway’s arrangement of the music “Memos in Paradise”.
His work with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band on Swingin’ for the Fences saw him turning to the classical side of things on Mozart’s 40th Symphony in G minor that has been arranged by Gordon Goodwin for his XXL.
The composer and saxophonist Daniel Schnyder wrote MATRIX 21, A Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, which was commissioned and premiered by the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in 2009, and dedicated it to Eddie Daniels.
Comfortable with performing jazz and classical music his recordings, which garnered 6 Grammy Award nominations, include First Prize!, Flower for All Seasons, Morning thunder, Blackwood, Brahms: Clarinet Quintet Op. 115, Real Time, Beautiful Love, Swing Low Sweet Clarinet, Mean What You Say, Homecoming: Eddie Daniels Love at the Indium, Duke at the Roadhouse: Live in Santa Fe, Heart of Brazil and Night Kisses.
Some of the many artists he has worked and recorded with during his career include the American Saxophone Quartet, Ashford & Simpson, Teresa Brewer, Tom Browne, Judy Collins, William Eaton, Michael Franks, Eric Gale, Gloria Gaynor, Astrud Gilberto, GRP All Star Big Band, Dave Grusin, Joe Henderson, Bob James, Kleeer, Andre Kostelanetz, Erich Kunzel, Yusef Lateef, Jimmy McGriff, Bette Midler, Claus Ogerman, John Pizzarelli, Lee Ritenour, Arturo Sandoval, Ben Sidran, Phoebe Snow, Sylvia Syms and Joe Thomas.
A selection of albums by other artists he has performed on include Double Exposure by Louis Armstrong and Freddie Hubbard, GB by George Benson, Hell by James Brown, Cerrone VII: You Are the One by Cerrone, Dance Dance Dance: The Best of… by Chic, Ambassador by Manu Dibango, Digital Duke by the Duke Ellington Orchestra/Mercer Ellington, Love All the Hurt Away by Aretha Franklin, The Nylon Curtain and An Innocent Man by Billy Joel, The Studio Album Collection: 1978-1992 by Chaka Khan, Living Inside Your Love by Earl Klugh, About Love by Gladys Knight & The Pips, Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk by Meco, Chic & Beyond by Nile Rodgers, Diana by Diana Ross, Spy by Carly Simon, Love Somebody Today by Sister Sledge, Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon, The Chrome Collection by The Spinners, Inflation by Stanley Turrentine, Sophisticated Lady: The Duke Ellington Songbook Collection by Sarah Vaughan, the soundtracks of The Wiz and Twin Peaks and hundreds of compilations and many others.
Diana Ross recordings
Give Up (Bernard Edwards/Nile Rodgers)
Motown (M 1491F) (US 45)
Sources:
- http://eddiedanielsclarinet.net/bio.html
- https://backunmusical.com/blogs/clarinet-news/eddie-daniels-on-eddie-daniels
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Daniels
- https://www.bluenote.com/artist/eddie-daniels/
- https://www.womex.com/virtual/berkeley_agency/eddie_daniels
- https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/eddie-daniels/12308
- https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/eddie_daniels
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/200783-Eddie-Daniels
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-daniels-mn0000171743