A Lucky Guy - I Get To Play With...

Well, here it is, the first blog for The Jay Danley Band! I'm going to be firing these out every so often in a hope to get some good dialogue with people.

First, I want to talk about some of the amazing people that have played and/or continue to play with the group, and right away I'm going to start with a person that always knocks everyone flat, and gets the most ovations of anyone in the group. (I would be jealous but she's just way to nice!) I'm talking about the amazing Elena Kapeleris, a fearless and powerfully intuitive musician who always plays with full engagement and conviction. She moves the music up and forward with her intensity. There are lots of great sax players around but to my knowledge there is no one who can do what she does. Here is a video of Elena and Chris Gale (another phenomenal player - more on him later) trading off in a song I wrote as a tribute to the great Ethiopian sax genius, Getachew Mekuria:

Elena has her own things going on including her own group where she shows her incredible skills as a singer. She studied saxophone with world renowned saxophonist Pat Labarbera and has played with a wide range of amazing Toronto musicians including, Pat LaBarbera (saxophonist), Richard Underhill (saxophonist), Rich Brown (bassist), Tom Juhas (guitarist), Sly Juhas (drummer), Brandi Disterheft (bassist), Richard Whiteman (pianist), and Lord Bubba's Nu Jazz Project. Here's a shot of Elena with the great Hilario Duran: