The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation has announced ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies and The Stooges as its 2010 artist inductees. Also being inducted this year as individual recipients of the Ahmet Ertegun Award will be David Geffen and songwriters Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell. The ceremony will take place on March 15, 2010 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City and will air live on Fuse, Madison Square Garden’s national music television network, as part of the three-year broadcast deal between the Foundation and Fuse. 



Dan composed the music through Yessian for the Fuse network which will play during the show and is currently airing in advertisements for the event.

Dan will be speaking on a panel on Music Licensing Strategies for Independent Artists at the Miami Music Festival, December 10-12.

The Miami Music Festival is the nation's newest showcase and conference for emerging musical acts. Independent artists, and those invited by record labels and showcase sponsors will perform on more than 25 stages in clubs, restaurants, tents and hotels in downtown Miami on December 10 - 12, 2009. The Miami Music Festival will present artists performing all genres of music including Rock, Alternative, Pop, Latin, Urban, Caribbean and Jazz.

Dan recently had the opportunity to work with long-time friend and incomparable trumpet player, Carl Fischer on his forthcoming album titled "Adverse Times".

Recorded at Bennett Studios in NJ and mixed at Dan's own Stella Studio in NY, the album showcases Carl's band "Organic Groove Ensemble" through an eclectic mix of both original compositions and covers.

 

"My job was simply to capture a great band in a great room, playing some great material.  Between the musicality of the band, Carl's vision and the talents of engineer Alessandro Perotta, I think we managed to do exactly that!  It was an absolute pleasure to work on this project."

 

February 25, 2009

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

DAN ZANK, NEW YORK-BASED COMPOSER, NAMED AS ONE OF THE MUSICAL  

ARRANGERS FOR HUGH JACKMAN’S OPENING MEDLEY AT THE 2009 OSCAR CEREMONY

If you watched the Oscars this past Sunday evening, Hugh Jackman’s  

highly entertaining opening number was likely one of your favorite  

moments. One of the key musical arrangers of that fast-paced,  

rollercoaster kick off was none other than Dan Zank, the NYC-based  

composer who, when not working for the Academy, also works as a senior  

staff writer for Yessian Music.

 

Mr. Zank, who had been involved with the project for many weeks prior  

to the event, managed to keep the number a secret right up until the  

start of the show in order to adhere to the Academy's request.

 

Dan has been a senior staff writer with Yessian for seven years and  

during that time, has composed an impressive array of work for a  

number of A-list clients.

 

Marlene Bartos, Managing Director of Yessian's New York office  

commented, "We're incredibly proud to have such an accomplished and  

talented composer as part of our staff.”

 

"It was a thrill to be part of such a great tradition and last night's  

show was as good as it gets,” Zank said humbly.

 

Dan recently composed/arranged a piece of music through Yessian for an amazing new ride installation in Shanghai, China.
"Flight of the Dragon" is a fully immersive experience that takes the participant on an awe inspiring ride over China on a dragon's wings. 
Dan arranged and wrote the orchestral piece for Yessian Music, who brought him out to Detroit to complete the production with players from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra string section.
"It was an honor to work with such talent. They truly elevated the music to an entirely new level."

Dan recently created the scores for both the Ford Mustang, and the Toyota Sienna reveals for Yessian.

click here to check out the spot

Imagine jazz organist Jimmy Smith grooving with downtempo auteurs Portishead and soundtrack master Lalo Shifirin and you’ve got ZDDZ, funky slicers of the rope-a-dope rhythm and jive. 





Created by the tag team NYC duo of Dan Zank (keyboards, guitar, programming) and Zach Danziger (drums, perc programming, tomfoolery) ZDDZ draws on their various work in the realms of film soundtracks, commercials and as in demand session cats -- then takes it a step further. Zank matches Booker T and Ray Manzarek (and a little raunchy guitar) for opener “Tricky Dick,” approximates the Zappa funk patrol circa 1979 on “Nite Cap,” and resurrects shades of Bob James’ “Taxi” theme for “She She.”





Summoning the spirits of Bernard Purdie and Brian Bennett, Zach kicks it soul fired and dry on “Erwin” (mildly displacing beats like silly putty), rips into 16^th note funki-fi-cation absurdity on “2^nd Ave. Subway,” and goes Latin zombie mad with “Let Café Show You!,” a dead ringer theme for The Gong Show hosted by a psychedelically inspired Vincent Price.







–Ken Micallef   

www.zddzmusic.com

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