Check out my website www.danielrorke.com
Tenor and Soprano Saxophone Player / Composer (and sometimes Bass Clarinet player too)
Groups:
Upcoming recording - me, Hilmar Jensen - Guitar, Rune Nergaard Bass, Per Oddvar Johansen - Drums.
Quartet: me, Magnus Wiik - Guitar, Aksel Jensen - Bass, Henning Carlsen - Drums.
Trio: me, Rune Nergaard - Bass, Tomas Järmyr - Drums.
Standard Issue: me, Jon Rune Strøm - Bass, Tollef Østvang - Drums.
I grew up just outside of the town of Nimbin on the east coast of Australia, and have since lived in Sydney, Melbourne, Iceland and for a short period New York. Currently I am a resident of Trondheim, Norway where I am completing my Masters degree in Jazz Performance at NTNU Jazzlinja. I have my Bachelor degree with first class honours in Jazz Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. My major is in saxophone but I have also studied composition rather extensively. During my years as a music freak I have had the privilege of studying with some amazing people such as Jerry Bergonzi, Kenny Werner, Terje Bjørklund, Henning Sommerø, Odd Johann Overøy, Victor Morosco, Gordon Brisker, Mike Nock, Dale Barlow, Col Loughnan, Bill Motzing, Dave Panichi, Richard Toop, Phil Slater and Riley Lee (Shakuhachi Grand Master).My performance career has included work with musicians such as Hilmar Jensson, Per Oddvar Johansen, Rune Nergaard, Magnus Wiik, Samuel Jon Samuelsson (Sigur Ros and many others), Sygtryygr Baldurson (Sugar Cubes drummer) Oskar Gudjonsson (fantastic saxophone player) Siggi Floasson, Lasse Lindgren (Swedish trumpet legend) Alistair Spence, Dave Goodman, Rod Mayhew, James Muller, Andrew Gander, Matt Clohesy, Will Guthrie and many others. I particpated in 2008 in The Raah Project launch at the Melbourne Black Box with Tamil Rogeon and Ryan Richie from the group True Live together with arrangements for strings, woodwinds, brass, rhythm section and electronics. In 2004 I played on the Icelandic recording of music by Tomas R Einarsson “Dansa Þú Fiflið†released through Smekkleysa Records and arranged and played for a series of shows of Motown music featuring many singers from the US including one of the members of the Temptations. The Ngarukuruwala Cd featuring singers from the Tiwi islands is also now available.I have toured extensively in Australia, the US and Europe, notable gigs including the Jazz Cafe in London, Acton Jazz Cafe in Boston, Moods in Zurich, Central Park Summer Stage in New York, Bennet’s Lane in Melbourne, The Reykjavik Jazz festival in Iceland, Groningen Festival in the Nederlands, The Darwin Festival in Australia, the Sydney Opera House, the Melbourne Arts Centre and many many other festivals around Europe and the United States. I also performed with my own small groups, nonet and am now writing more for big band.I have also held a saxophone teaching position at Breiðholtskóli in Reykjavik and taught saxophone both in Iceland and Australia. In addition it had been my pleasure to do some copying work for some great arrangers such as Bill Motzing, Michael Gibbs and the late Roger Frampton. I have also arranged for the Sydney Conservatorium Big Band and done the string arrangements for Australian Idol rebel Bobby Flynn’s CD “The Boy Had Troubleâ€.So far during my career I have also received a number of mentionable grants for which I am grateful such as Uni. of Sydney UPA, Mary Patricia Bell Grant, Edward J Vigo Grant, Iceland..s Loftbru and the Sydney Moss Scholarship.For the past few years I have worked to develop an improvisational manner that, while respecting and learning from the American Jazz tradition, reflects a global world view and better represents myself as a non-American within a post-modern artistic climate. To this end I continue to spend time acquainting myself with contemporary and historical composition, jazz (with a lowercase j [and sometimes with a capital too!]) improvisers from the US, Europe and elsewhere around the globe, electronic and popular music, traditional music forms (such as the Shakuhachi from Japan, Icelandic Rimúr, Sami Jóik, Tibetan chanting, Australian Aboriginal singing, Armenian Duduk, Persian and Indian music as well as anything else I can get my hands on). I don..t believe in the purpose of genre outside of marketplace concerns, and aspire to incorporating all influences, musical and extra-musical, in my compositions and improvisations.
Black