Clint Dadian--International Jazz Musician

I am a professional guitarist specializing in jazz and fluent in many styles. My deep passion for music is reflected in my playing, teaching, composing and arranging. I aim to achieve a warm sound and improvisational flow within the jazz idiom and am comfortable in performance settings ranging from solo guitar to big band. In 1991, after spending some time in Europe, mostly in Budapest, Hungary, I settled in Brooklyn, New York where I earned a Bachelors degree in Jazz performance from Long Island University. There I had the opportunity to study with some of the finest jazz guitarists in New York including Peter Bernstein, Rodney Jones, Chris Rosenberg, Mark Elf and Randy Johnston. I used my background in classical piano while studying jazz piano with Bruce Barth and David Berkman and attended master classes with Jim Hall, Jack Wilkins, Jimmy Heath, Attila Zoller, Barry Harris and many others. After graduating I served as an adjunct guitar instructor at LIU. For five years in the late nineties I held a steady early slot gig at Augie's (now Smoke) every Friday night. During those years I was afforded the opportunity to listen to (and occasionally sit in with) the late set players who accompanied Joe Farnsworth. Among them: Peter Bernstein, Rodney Jones, Eric Alexander, Harold Mabern, Cecil Payne, Jim Rotundi, Steve Davis, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Larry Goldings and other characters who frequented the club. This was a real education. New York City had, and has, an incredible array of musical offerings that I tapped regularly. During that time I created and instructed a jazz workshop for adults which ran for six years. This gave me the fledgling opportunity to practice arranging for a variety of instruments. In 2009, I was awarded a Masters Degree in Music from the University of Denver. I studied classical guitar with Masakazu Ito, jazz guitar with Alan Joseph and composition and arranging with Dave Hanson. My work with Mr. Hanson opened up a new world of big band arranging that I have become immersed in. I currently compose for and perform weekly with 2 big bands (the Ultraphonic Jazz Orchestra and Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra) in Denver as well as 2 large funk bands (Mass Hipsteria and Groove'n'Motion) a rock/pop band (Makeshift Funk), a vocal group (the Beverly Belles) and many solo, duo, and trio jazz gigs. I have served as an adjunct at Long Island University in Brooklyn and at the Community College of Aurora and as band and choir director for several years at Academy Charter School in Castle Rock, Colorado. While there, I wrote arrangements for the bands and often had them accompany the choir. I continue to teach, record and perform with some of the finest musicians in and around Denver.

SkylarkJazz 2019