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Danny Bacher – Serious Fun

Last autumn, jazz singer and soprano sax player Danny Bacher released his second CD, Still Happy. That he is. Bacher is a purveyor of happiness, born under a lucky star. He’s a Renaissance man, a polymath of talent––a saxophonist, vocalist, composer, educator, actor, writer/playwright, and comedian––who’s a master of all trades and on a mission to spread joy. Now at that mid-life point where the road behind and the road ahead are more or less equal, he’s got a solid perspective of the elements of his life that have informed his “now” and the direction he’d like to travel in.

Marking a pinnacle in his career, Bacher also becomes the latest recipient of the American Songbook Association (ASA) Margaret Whiting Award, of which Bacher says, “It’s an honor to carry on the tradition and excellence one strives for, and that this music deserves.” The Whiting Award matches Bacher’s personal mission to encourage young people into the songbook and into jazz, by making it accessible to them. Of course, happiness is a prime ingredient in that accessibility.


Nominated for Best Male Vocalist 2019, 2020, 2021

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Terry Gibbs Legacy Band: The Terry Gibbs Songbook

At age 92 years old, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs was still a musical force when he recorded 92 Years Young Jammin’ at the Gibbs House (Whaling City Sound, 2017). His son, drummer Gerry Gibbs, paid homage to him with Songs from My Father (Whaling City Sound, 2021) with the Thrasher Dream Trio band. As for this recording for his father, Gerry Gibbs says, “Recording this record with my Pops will always be so memorable because it will be his last work.” Accordingly, at the ripe age of 98 years old, Terry Gibbs has released the last album of his storied career and life with The Terry Gibbs Songbook, recorded and performed by the Terry Gibbs Legacy Band featuring Gerry and an all-star cast of players including saxophonist Scott Hamilton and vocalist Danny Bacher, who fit the bill to the tee.

Jazz needn’t be dark and brooding to be taken seriously. From Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller to Louis Jordan and Louis Prima, a fair amount of the jazz catalog was designed to put a smile on your mug and tap in your toe. Saxophonist and vocalist Danny Bacher subscribes to that model. In fact, he doubles down on his 2016 release Swing That Music – a tribute to the above-mentioned Louis – with an unapologetically joyful follow-up, Still Happy (Whaling City Sound). Bacher puts his engaging tenor vocals to a well-curated set of sunny standards – “Getting Some Fun Out of Life”, “Lucky To Be Me”, “Joy Spring” – pens a few of his own, and receives stellar backing from top-flight musicians including saxophonist Harry Allen and pianist Allen Farnham. Proving, as throughout, that a cheerful disposition isn’t necessarily anathema to good jazz, Bacher leads his band through a simmering rendition of the Arlen/oehler classic “Get Happy.” The singer doubles on soprano sax and splits solo space with Allen and trumpeter Charles Caranicas, while bassist Dean Johnson, drummer Alvester Garnett and percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos maintain an infectious Latin groove.


Tributes to the Louies – Armstrong, Prima and Jordan – are nothing new. For years, artists with a penchant for finger-popping have doffed a cap to one or more of them, and with good reason: They’re among the most significant music makers of the 20th century. Vocalist and soprano saxophonist Danny Bacher is the latest to tie together the Louis legacies on his invigorating new CD Swing That Music! (Whaling City Sound).

Bacher receives sterling support from a topnotch little big band featuring all-stars such as guitarist Howard Alden, cornetist Warren Vache, trombonist Pete McGuinness and bassist Ray Drummond. Song selections play like a dream jukebox, featuring a slate of tunes that connect jazz and blues to jump-swing and rock ‘n’ roll. Bacher’s tenor vocals provide a sturdy vehicle for the music, and he pulls plenty of fire from his sax, undoubtedly inspired by the musicians he honors – ace solosits all – as well as those on the session. Bacher shares the mic with the charming Cyrille Aimée for a medly that pairs “La Vie en Rose” with “A Kiss to Build a Dream On.” both romantic staples of the Armstrong repertoire. Aimée sings the former in her native French (a la Edith Piaf) as a prelude to Bacher’s supple croon on the latter. Pianist Jason Teborek, bassist Drummond and drummer Bill Goodwin are spot-on, and Vache honors Pops’ horn without imitating him.

Danny Bacher: Still Happy – Review of saxophonist/vocalist’s upbeat second album as a leader

The song titles alone on soprano saxophonist and vocalist Danny Bacher’s sophomore release provide a pre-listening hint of what to expect: They contain words like joy, fun, lucky, hooray, laughing, and—three separate times—happy. And just to make sure you’ve got the idea, the CD’s inner sleeve depicts the artist matching the grin on the smiley-face balloon he’s holding. Yes, there is also “Cloudy,” an update of the nearly century-old Bix Beiderbecke tune, paired in a medley with Django Reinhardt’s “Nuages,” but it’s the last tune on the album, so by then the exultant mood has long been set. No room for gloom here.

If that description suggests that Still Happy (itself a distillation of a Bacher original called “In Spite of All This, I’m Still Happy”) might be some kind of cloying, terminally gushy affair, no worries. The positivity within these smartly arranged and superbly executed performances is often more implied than overt; if the music gets a smile out of you too, consider that a bonus… READ MORE


“The secret of serious fun is not to take it too seriously, especially if it involves playing jazz. That attitude is something that the easygoing singer and saxophonist Danny Bacher, who appeared with a small swing band at the Metropolitan Room on Tuesday evening, knows in his bones.

It is about making hot music but staying cool, about cutting up while maintaining effortless self-control, about having a blast with friends. And at his performance of “Swing That Music,” a homage to the era of jumpin’ jive with a dollop of Dixieland, Mr. Bacher conflated the music of three Louises — Armstrong, Jordan and Prima — in a concert revealing him to be a prodigiously talented musical preservationist.

Mr. Bacher’s voice is smoother than Prima’s rasp, but in his bebop solos he revealed enough of his inner wild man to suggest a maniac behind the cool. “I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song),” from “The Jungle Book,” in particular, made me grin. It was a reminder that behind its academic trappings, a prime element of jazz has always been a game of monkey see, monkey do.”

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Events


SEE DANNY

LIVE

IN CONCERT

  • 2024 EVENTS

  • JANUARY

  • 1st | MON

    Port Washington, NY

  • 6th | SAT @ 12PM

    Danny Bacher’s Swing Party!
    Treasure Coast Jazz Society opening season concert in Vero Beach, FL | GET TICKETS

  • 8th | MON @7PM

    The Danny Sextet
    The Port Charlotte Jazz Society | GET TICKETS

  • 12th | FRI

    Gleneagles Country Club
    Delray Beach, FL | LEARN MORE

  • 23-31st |

    Silversea’s Silver Shadow
    From Hilo, Hawaii to Apia, Samoa

  • FEBRUARY

  • 1-2nd |

    Silversea’s Silver Shadow
    From Hilo, Hawaii to Apia, Samoa

  • 9th | FRI

    New York City, NY

  • 12th | MON

    The Danny Bacher Sextet
    Fort Meyers, FL

  • 14th | WED

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 16th | FRI@9

    The Villa Roma
    Calicoon, NY

  • 23rd | FRI@9

    The Villa Roma Calicoon, NY

  • 24th | SAT

    Cedar Grove, NJ

  • 27th | TUE@7

    The Pawleys Island Festival of Music and Art present
    the Danny Bacher Quartet

    at the Village House Event Center
    13089 Ocean Hwy, Pawleys Island, SC 29585
    For Tickets click here: https://pawleysmusic.com/festival-event/danny-bacher/

  • MARCH

  • 5th | TUE

    On-Air Interview/ Guest Spot with Taylor Morgan
    Legends Radio, West Palm Beach, FL

  • 19th | TUE@7:30

    Live at Cafe Centro with The Danny Bacher Quartet
    Cafe Centro, 2409 N Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, FL 33407
    for tickets and reservations call: 561-514-4070

  • 24th | SUN

    Boca Raton, FL

  • APRIL

  • 7th | SUN

    NYC

  • 13th | SAT@12PM

    APSS Program “Unsung Ellington” Featuring Danny Bacher and guests
    Don’t Tell MaMa’s, NY, NY

  • 14th | SUN

    Riverhead, NY

  • 15-16th | MON-TUE

    Jazz Vocal Masterclasses with Clinician Danny Bacher
    The Jazz Loft, Stony Brook, NY

  • 17th | WED

    Weehawken, NJ

  • 22nd | FRI

    The La Coquille Club
    Manalapan, FL

  • 29th | MON@7

    Theaterworks USA Benefit Concert
    Honoring Tom Toce and Bobby & Kristen Anderson-Lopez
    Feat: Danny Bacher, Roger Bart, Dewitt Fleming, Jr., Carole Bufford, Miguel Cervantes and Santino Fontana.

  • MAY

  • 2nd | THR@9

    The Villa Roma, Calicoon, NY

  • 4th | SAT

    The Manhasset Bay Yacht Club
    Port Washington, NY

  • 11th | SAT

    Roslyn, NY

  • 12th | SUN

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 16th | THR@7PM

    “Let’s Go to Rio” A musical salute to Brazil
    Starring Danny Bacher, Alexia Bomtempo and the Art Topilow Quartet | The Bell Theater, Holmdel, NJ
    GET TICKETS

  • 24th | FRI@9PM

    The Villa Roma
    Calicoon, NY

  • 29th | WED

    Briarcliff Manor
    NY

  • 31st | FRI

    Cipriani 25 Broadway, NYC

  • JUNE

  • 7th | FRI@9PM

    The Villa Roma
    Calicoon, NY

  • 9th | SUN

    Sea Isles, NJ

  • 12th | WED

    Briarcliff Manor, NY

  • 12th | WED@7PM

    NYC

  • 15th | SAT

    Astoria, NY

  • 17th | MON@5:30

    APSS Gala Honoring David Shire and Richard Maltby
    Featuring: Danny Bacher, Michael Lavine, Sean Harkness, Anita Gillette, Austin Pendelton, Judy Kaye, Steve Ross, Sally Mayes and many more!
    GET TICKETS

  • 18th | TUES@7

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 20th | THR

    Middlesex, NJ

  • 21st | FRI

    The Bronx, NY

  • 23rd | SUN

    Jersey City, NJ

  • 27th | THRS

    Garen City, NY

  • 29th | SAT

    Staten Island, NY

  • 30th | SUN

    Morristown, NJ

  • JULY

  • 4th | THRS

    Port Jervis, NY

  • 5th | FRI

    Wayne, NJ

  • 12th | FRI

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 14th | SUN

    Milford Jazz Festival
    Concert with the Royal Bopsters, Milford, PA

  • 18th | THRS@8PM

    Chez Vana, Rooftop Concert
    Featuring Danny Bacher with the Vana Gierig Trio, NYC
    CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

  • 19th | FRI

    Westbrook, Conn

  • 20th | SAT

    Middletown, NY

  • 27th | SAT

    James, NY

  • AUGUST

  • 24th | SAT@6PM

    The Plaza Hotel, NYC

  • 28th | WED@7PM

    Pangea, NYC
    w/ Roseanna Vitro | TICKETS & DETAILS

  • 30th | FRI

    West Orange, NY

  • SEPTEMBER

  • 1st | SUN

    Woodbury, NY

  • 5th | THRS

    Edison, NJ

  • 7th | SAT

    Tarrytown, NY

  • 9th | MON

    The Villa roma
    Calicoon, NY

  • 11th | WED

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 14th | SAT

    Woodbury, NY

  • 20th | FRI

    Somerset, NJ

  • 21st | SAT

    Madison, NJ

  • 25th | WED

    Briarcliff Manor, NY

  • 27th | SAT

    The Villa roma
    Calicoon, NY

  • 30th | MON@7:30PM

    Benefit for Prostate Cancer
    Guest Spot at the Triad Theater, NYC

  • OCTOBER

  • 5th | SAT

    Glen Cove, NY

  • 6th | SUN

    New Milford, Conn

  • 7th | MON

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 9th | WED@7:30PM

    Concert with The Royal Bopsters
    Pangea, NYC

  • 11th | FRI

    Casa Belvedere
    Gala Benefit, Staten Island, NY

  • 12th | SAT

    Garden City, NY

  • 13th | SUN

    Garfield, NJ

  • 16th | WED

    Briarcliff Manor, NY

  • 17th | THR

    Queens, NY

  • 18th | FRI

    Jersey City, NJ

  • 19th | SAT

    Cedar Grove, NJ

  • 20th | SUN@2-4PM

    Library Concert at Port Washington Library
    Port Washington, NY

  • 22nd | TUE

    35th Annual Cabaret Convention presents, “Put on a Happy Face”
    Honoring Composer Charles Strousse
    Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC | TICKETS & INFORMATION

  • 26th | SAT

    Marlboro, NJ

  • NOVEMBER

  • 7-9th | THR-SAT

    Rat Pack Show Starring Danny Bacher with Pete Caldero and Tom Manuel
    with the Jazz Loft Big Band at the Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY

  • 10th | SUN

    Somerset, NJ

  • 11th | MON

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 15th | FRI@7PM

    A Celebration of Louis Jordan
    Ft. Danny Bacher with Tom Manuel and the Jazz Loft Ensemble
    The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY

  • 20th | WED

    Briarcliff Manor, NY

  • 21-23rd | THR-SAT

    Rat Pack Show Starring Danny Bacher with Pete Caldero and Tom Manuel
    with the Jazz Loft Big Band at the Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY

  • DECEMBER

  • 2nd | MON

    Melville, NY

  • 12-14th | THR-SAT

    “The Nutcracker” Annual Big Band Christmas concert Starring Danny Bacher
    with Tom Manuel and the Jazz Loft Big Band

    at the Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY

  • 14th | SAT@2-4PM

    The Danny Bacher Quartet Holiday Concert
    Jersey City Public Library

  • 16th | MON@7PM

    The Jazz Nativity
    With the Royal Bopsters, NYC

  • 17th | TUE

    Rye Brook, NY

  • 18th | WED

    Briarcliff Manor, NY

  • 19-21st | THR-SAT

    “The Nutcracker” Annual Big Band Christmas concert Starring Danny Bacher
    with Tom Manuel and the Jazz Loft Big Band

    at the Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY

  • 24th | TUE

    Tenafly, NJ

  • 2025 EVENTS

  • JANUARY

  • FEBRUARY

Listen

Check out tunes from Danny’s Newest CDs

Hooray For Hollywood


Joie De Vive

Get Happy


 

La Vie En Rose/Kiss To Build a Dream On
(Featuring Cyrille Aimée and Warren Vaché)



I Wanna Be Like You

Early in the Mornin


Contact

Danny

Bacher

For Booking

JWP AGENCY

Steve Frumkin
330-405-9075
steve@jwpagency.com

Rick Costa
774-526-0397
rick@jwpagency.com

Management

Sanborn “Sandy” McGraw 
Upper MGT LLC

RADIO & PUBLICITY

Mixed Media
Ginny Shea
ginny@mixedmediapromo.com
401-942-8025
www.mixedmediapromo.com