Daniels, Eddie (actually, Edward Kenneth)

Daniels, Eddie (actually, Edward Kenneth) , tenor saxophonist, clarinetist; b. N.Y, Oct. 19, 1941. He studied at N.Y.’s H.S. of Performing Arts, and was a member of Marshall Brown’s Youth Band which performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. He took a masters degree in clarinet from Julliard in 1966. He first attracted attention in the jazz world as a member of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band in 1966, remaining with it until 1972. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he also recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Richard Davis, Don Patterson, and Bucky Pizzarelli, as well as leading his own projects. Daniels had always played clarinet, but was mainly a tenor player during this period. However, he stopped playing saxophone in the early 1980s and began concentrating on clarinet. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Daniels recorded several albums for GRP. These releases helped make him one of the most popular and publicly known jazz clarinetists in decades and created renewed interest in the instrument. In the late 1990s he returned to doubling on tenor. He has appeared on The Tonight Show and his Benny Goodman tribute with Gary Burton was featured in a one-hour video.

Discography

First Prize (1966); Blue Bossa (1972); Flower for All Seasons (1973); Brief Encounter (1977); Morning Thunder (1978); Breakthrough (1986); Collection (1986); Memos from Paradise (1987); To Bird with Love (1987); Blackwood (1989); Nepenthe (1989); This Is Now (1991); Benny Rides Again (Goodman tribute, with Gary Burton; 1992); Under the Influence (1993); Eddie Daniels Collection (1994); Real Time (1994); Five Seasons (1996); Beautiful Love (1997).

—Lewis Porter