Dale E Chung- Producer, Songwriter, Percussionist, Keyboards, Vocalist
Born & raised in Berkeley and Oakland, California, Dale grew up listening to a very eclectic mix of music, from funk to country, but he's a jazz musician at heart. He began studying conga drumming while attending Berkeley High School and soon became the hand drummer for the Afro-Haitian dance classes and the Jazz & Symphonic bands. He also studied music under the direction of Bill Bell at College of Alameda and Elvo D'Amante at Laney College in Oakland. This is when he began studying piano, Jazz composition & arranging as well as delving deeper into traditional Afro-Cuban & Afro-Brazilian music and culture. He later went on to study Business/Marketing at Cal State Hayward after having a brief conversation with his then classmate, Will Kennedy who advised him to "Consider taking some business classes because you're already playing music eventually you're gonna need to know about contracts & accounting for your money and stuff."
As a sideman, he's been bless to have played for crowds of up to 20,000 people at such venues and shows as The Chronicle Pavilion in Concord California, the Soul Beach Music Festival in Aruba, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, The Chicago Theater, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Black Filmmaker's Awards, the Gavin Convention, Kimball's East, Kimball's Carnival, Bimbo's 365, Slim's, The Temple Bar, Agenda Lounge, Elbo Room, Fair Park in Dallas AND Syndicated radio program "the Tom Joyner Morning Show" which is in 115 markets across the U.S. and has 8 million listeners!
He has performed with legendary funk super group ConFunkShun feat. Michael Cooper & Felton Pilate; Gospel recording group Committed Ministries, Joel Jaffe, Mic Gillette & Skip Mesquite(Tower of Power) ; Terry Bradford(Celine Dion, Linda Ronstadt, Rickey Martin, Tyrese, Dave Koz), Skip Martin(Dazz Band & Kool & the Gang), Dr. Wayne Wallace, Tom Poole(Malo & Etta James), Yuko Tamura(Gladys Knight), Tim Gorman(Greg Kihn, Starship, Stevie Nicks), Carl Wheeler, Celso Alberti(Steve Winwood), Del Atkins(Mary J Blige, Willie Bobo), Michael Peloquin, Joel Smith(Edwin & Walter Hawkins Singers), Emáge, William Kennedy(Yellowjackets), the late Garry Jackson, Billy Johnson(Santana, Maze, Joyce Cooling), bass virtuoso Troy Lampkins, Jamie Brewer(The Whispers, En Vogue, Joyce Cooling), Richie Aguon(The Whispers), PC Muñoz & the Amen Corner.
With these acts he's shared the billing with acts such as Kem, India Aire, The Isley Brothers, Average White Band, Doug E Fresh,The Joyce Cooling Band, EU, Floetry, Lakeside, Rose Royce, SOS band, Jon B., Naughty by Nature, DaBrat, The Brothers Johnson, the Gap Band, Cameo, Pete Escovedo, Ray Obiedo, Roger Glenn, Morris Day & The Time, Midnight Star, MC Hammer, Tierra, Billy Paul, Hiroshima, Charlie Hunter & Gospel artist Tonéx to name a few.
After college, he went on to co-found a local jazz/funk group called "KnowJazz", in this group he played both keys & percussion, he co-produced their vinyl EP entitled "Unsigned and Ready to Deliver" & their full length CD, "Take a Hit of This..." At this time he also started a small record label "StoneGroove Records". The debut release "Unsigned and Ready to Deliver" received rave reviews in HitMakers Magazine.
After about 4 years, he realized he had outgrown the group and decided to leave. His leaving was truly a blessing because he began honing his skills as a studio musician, songwriter, producer and engineer. He recorded with DJs Julius Papp and JayJay on "Shuffle Inc - The Shuffle EP Part 1" and as a Producer he has worked with such artists as Guitarist Dave Lopez,currently of Flipsyde, Simple E, Omega Brooks, Kimbrely "Ms.Brely" Evans and Taura Stinson(Aura Jackson.)
His solo CDs, "The DC Initiative" and "Clifton at Desmond", encompass all of the skills he's learned; Producing, Composing, Arranging & Performing. As a Bandleader, The DC Initiative has performed for San Francisco's Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival, The Stadium in Vacaville and has been featured on internet radio stations: SolarRadio.com in the UK; Terrestrial Syndicated radio on "Cafe Jazz Radio" in Toronto, Canada & "Smooth Jazz Radio" in Sydney, Australia. Dale also acts and starred in Filmmaker Stacy Nykole's award winning independent film, "Unspoken." Currently performing with ConFunkShun, Contemporary Gospel recording group "Committed Ministries", AfroSoul recording artist Dozié(Doh-Zee-Ay), Terry Bradford, Old School R&B revue band "Xecutive Sweet", & his own group "Dale E Chung & the DC Intitiative." He has also just finished recording at Studio D Recording with Joel Jaffe on indie artist Liz Kennedy upcoming CD.
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