Willy Dalton profile picture

Willy Dalton

About Me

Latest random video: Another performance of my arrangement of Edward Redding's "End Of A Love Affair" by The Real Deal Big Band featuring myself on guitar, Mike DiLorenzo on organ, Vince Cherico on drums.


OK, after a lot of prodding I finally joined MySpace--I don't know what I'm doing but I'll give it a shot. If things get slow I can always fall back to my other job:
Photo by Craig Yaremko (hope you liked the courtesy shine--next time I see you I'll do the other shoe)
I'm a freelance guitarist/arranger/composer. I studied with jazz guitarists Jerry Hahn, Joe Cinderella, Chuck Wayne, Carmine D'Amico, classical guitar with Herbert Levine, flamenco guitar with Dennis Koster, arranging with Dave Berger and Don Sebesky. My original project is the 10 piece Dalton Gang but I play with and write for several ensembles and if I'm open I'll take the gig, thank you. Here are the details for the tunes in the MySpace Jukebox--all six tunes are my original compositions and/or arrangements:

"Ronda" is from The Dalton Gang's most recent release, "Last Year's Waltz", and is a musical impression of the beautiful Spanish city, Ronda. I used an Antonio Aparicio flamenco guitar--the same guitar is in the video of "Mr. Lucky" and "Alone Together" (below in the "Solo Guitar" videos). Vinnie Cutro plays the trumpet solo. The other members of The Dalton Gang are: Conrad Zulauf, trombone, Mark Friedman, alto; Frank Elmo, tenor; Dan Nigro, bari; Mike DiLorenzo, keys; John Hughes, bass; Frank Valdes, percussion; Vince Cherico, drums.

"Fran" is a guitar duet with myself--kind of an older style acoustic thing and I named the tune after my mother. I played the melody and solo with a 1980's Martin OM-28 and the rhythm guitar with a Heritage Golden Eagle.

"Around The Wall" is an original composition for guitar performed on my Antonio Aparicio flamenco guitar.

"Cinzia" is played by the 18 piece Real Deal Big Band. The soloists are Freddie Hendrix, trumpet; Frank Elmo, tenor sax; Frank Valdes, percussion; Mike DiLorenzo, piano; with John Pendenza on lead trumpet, John Hughes on bass, and Vince Cherico on traps.

"Silk City" is from "Riverwalk"--music I wrote for string quartet and acoustic guitar--first performed in 1999. This was recorded at Luna Sound and featured the Seraphim String Quartet and myself on the Martin OM 28.

"Run Along Now" features my playing on the Martin and slide guitars.

To listen to additional compositions and recordings go here.

Here are some videos of various projects--all my arrangements and/or compositions--to see the lastest added videos scroll down to the bottom of the thumbnail to the right of each video section. The Real Deal Big Band videos featuring my guitar playing are: "End Of A Love Affair", "The Gypsy In My Soul", and "For Heaven's Sake". Don't forget to turn off the MySpace jukebox above before watching the videos.
THE DALTON GANG:

THE REAL DEAL BIG BAND:

PATERSON NJ (original music, photos by Ellen Denuto)

SHEILA'S DREAM (original music, stock footage)

WALKING HOME from a performance of "Riverwalk", music I wrote for string quartet and acoustic guitar. This was at the Paterson Museum in Paterson NJ in 1998 and featured the Seraphim Quartet and me

Solo guitar videos

My arrangement of TP's "3D Mambo" performend by the Real Deal Big Band live at Trumpets in Montclair NJ on 10/03/07.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/31/2007
Band Website: secondstepmusic.com
Influences: Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Steve Cropper, James Burton, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Johnny Smith, Jimmy Raney, Duke Ellington, Tito Puente, Louis Armstrong, Thom Bell, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Cuba Gooding, Mongo Santamaria, Joe Bataan, Symphony Sid, Lester Young, Tower Of Power, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Heitor Villa Lobos, Antonio Lauro, Paco de Lucia, Tomatito, George Russell, Teddy Edwards, Teddy Charles, Doug Sahm, Hank Williams, Charles Mingus, Charles Wright, Hermeto Pascoal, Phineas Newborn, Erroll Garner, Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, Spike Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Olivier Messiaen, Percy Mayfield, The Meters, Ray Charles, Bobby Womack, Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini, Clifford Coulter, Baden Powell Sly Stone, Stan Getz, Carlos Santana, Thad Jones, Thelonius Monk, Vicente Amigo, Conrad Zulauf
Record Label: Second Step Music
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Palermo 08

I have to write this down before I forget it. Last August I booked a flight to Palermo, Sicily for January. I checked on the web and the consensus was that the weather is decent and the prices are low...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:56:00 PST

Paris 07

I had a late flight on Tuesday night that got me to Charles de Gaulle about 10:30 on Wednesday morning and to my hotel in the 5th arr. behind the Pantheon about 12:30 PM. My first trip for the past co...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:21:00 PST

Arthur Avenue, The Bronx, NY October 2007

Fall seems to be a great time to visit Arthur Ave--the place is jumping--so many new cafes, stores, etc, every time I come back. Teitel Bros was packed at 4 PM today (Sat). I bought the very fresh Re...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 07:01:00 PST

End Of A Season

I feel like this is my last meal of the Summer season even though we're already into Autumn. I stopped by the Paterson Farmers' Market this morning--it has to be one of the market's last weekends if n...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:32:00 PST

Brighton Beach, Brooklyn

I'd been wanting to go to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, for awhile and I finally made it this month (June 2007). I'd been there at night to play weddings at the over-the-top Russian catering halls but fin...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:58:00 PST

wine and Paris for the first time

Of course, wine goes with food so I'll blog on that as well. I've been going to France at least once a year--sometimes twice--since I did a concert at L'Auditorium Musical Theatre de Paris in Paris (L...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:20:00 PST

Arthur Avenue, The Bronx, NY

I was running low on Don Luigi organic first pressed olive oil from Sicily and I had a little time so I went up to Arthur Ave. this afternoon (Saturday). The traffic is always horrendous and there is ...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sun, 13 May 2007 07:44:00 PST

what I'm cooking tonight 5/05/07

Thursday is alway fish day--when my late, lamented friend Michael Goforth was working at the Whole Foods fish counter in Montclair NJ he told me to come in on Thursday because the fish markets all get...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sun, 06 May 2007 05:49:00 PST

what I'm cooking tonight 4/28/07

If you're a vegetarian stop here and go back to whatever else you were doing. I'm into food and when I'm home I cook--I'm usually cooking for one..>. I went to Corrado's in Paterson this morning and b...
Posted by Willy Dalton on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:04:00 PST