Daniel has been passionate about the drums ever since he could remember being a child.  At the early age of four, he took up an interest in that instrument as a result of his father’s band rehearsals in North Dakota. From then on, Daniel jammed on sofas and toy “airports” until he finally moved back to New York in the early 1980’s.

It was not until 1985 when Daniel joined his first musical organization called Ponce. This was a small marching unit that performed in NYC and New Jersey. The next year found Daniel at Cardinal Hayes High School, where he gained a solid foundation for musical performances to come. It was during his high school years that he discovered the wonderful world of drum corps as he traveled and performed with the New York Lancers. After graduating from high school in 1990, Daniel moved to California and found himself marching as a snare drummer for the Freelancers Drum & Bugle corps. That was no simple task. It wasn’t long before he found himself stationed in Hawaii with the 25th I.D. Band.

In Hawaii at 19 years of age, Daniel got a taste of what “gigging” was all about. He began performing with a Latin band named “cache.” This was the first real band that he actually gigged with. This became a beneficial learning experience as he developed and played with many of Hawaii’s top bands and musicians including Tropi-Jazz, Gabe Balthazar, David Choy, Rodney Perez, Wayne DeSilva, Sandy Tsukiyama, Ray Cruz, Carlinhos Deoliveira, and others. In 1993, Tropi-Jazz backed the legendary quatro player Yomo Toro in concert. In 1994, they opened up Honolulu’s First International Jazz Festival. After military service, Daniel remained on Maui for a year performing with the likes of Joe Cano, Lenny Castellanos, Fulton Toshombe, Kelly Covington, Gene Argel, Hector Serrano, Mike Zangrando, Shiro Mori, Carlos Godines, Estaire Godines, and Rolando Morales. It was in Maui where Daniel met and performed with the accomplished Bob Albanese. Turning down a generous scholarship to Berklee College of music, Daniel headed to U.N.L.V. on a full four-year scholarship where he immersed himself in musical study.

At U.N.L.V., Daniel became involved with many ensembles at school, but it was the Las Vegas nightlife that Daniel migrated to. Within months, he was performing at Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand, Tropicana, and the Stardust. Those were just a few of the many resorts he gigged at. You see, Daniel hooked up with “Tropical Splash,” and ended up performing with Phil Wigfall, Mickey Alvarado, and many others around sin city. One group that still remains in Daniel’s heart today is “Groove Sprout.” According Daniel, this was one of the funkiest bands in Las Vegas that did not even perform in the grand hotels. Daniel’s days in Vegas ended when he uprooted for Oakland California with the hopes of recording and touring Japan with the well received band Passion & Grace. This band performed all over the San Francisco bay area and beyond. The band featured members of the Godines family, Nelson Braxton, and Rolando Morales. It was during this time that Daniel got to meet and jam with Derrick Jones, Marc Van Wageningen, Peter Michael, Pete Escovedo, Lisa Pollard, and others. Daniel had the time of his life living and performing in the bay area for a about a year, but found himself back in Hawaii soon after. He remained on Maui performing with many great musicians for about five months before he headed back home in 1997. So, the prodigal son returned to NYC where he began performing with John Benitez and Bob Albanese on occasion. He ended up performing at a church in the Bronx where he ran into a great musician and bandleader named Wilfredo Velez. With Mark Leontovich and Manny Lanzot, they hit the small gospel jazz scene as part of Sonship Music Group. To date, Daniel has performed with

Between 1997 and the present, Daniel has married Lisa his soul mate, obtained a music degree, deployed to Iraq with a reserve unit, and has relocated to the mountains of Pennsylvania. During these years he has performed with numerous musicians in NYC. Now, Daniel performs with Jesse green, Jazz Juice, One Accord, Vinyl Destination, and others. Freelancing is something Daniel enjoys as well. To date, Daniel has had the fortune of playing with Lisa Pollard, Lisa Parrot, Cynthia Hilts, Jack Wilkins, John Jensen, Dennis Jeter, Andrew New, Nelson Hill, Evan Gregor, Mark Murphy, Tom Harrell, Yoshiaki Masuo, Ray Vega, Paul Rostock, Bill Washer, Spencer Reed, Roger Glenn, Tim Reyes, Mark Leontovich, and Alex Gordon, Marco Marcinko Steve Lowry. Daniel seeks to expand this list.