The Remarkable Mr. Glass (S5 | E225) PART TWO

Daniel Glass …

…. is an award-winning drummer, author, historian and educator based in New York City. Daniel is widely recognized as an authority on classic American drumming and the evolution of American Popular Music. And we are lucky enough to have Daniel on Jazz New York, presented by Lester the Nightfly Radio for two shows, back-to-back. Click here to listen to PART ONE.

Since 2010, he has been the house drummer every Monday night at New York’s legendary Birdland Jazz Club.

Daniel is highly in demand as a drummer, working more than 200 gigs annually. He has recorded and performed all over the world with a diverse roster of top artists, including Brian Setzer, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Royal Crown Revue, KISS front man Gene Simmons’ swing project, Jose Feliciano, Freddie Cole, Marilyn Maye, Gunhild Carling, the Hot Sardines, the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, Michelle Shocked, Melissa Manchester, Mike Ness, Air Supply’s Graham Russell, and Luann De Lesseps from the Real Housewives of New York. He also leads his own group, the Daniel Glass Trio. For two years running, Daniel was voted one of the top five drummers in the world by readers of Modern Drummer and DRUM magazine.

As an educator, Daniel has published five books and three DVDs, including the award-winning titles The Century Project, The Roots of Rock Drumming, and The Commandments of Early Rhythm and Blues Drumming. His online curriculum on American Popular Music, From Ragtime to Rock, is used by music educators at over 1000 schools across the U.S. and Canada.

Performance and Education

Daniel contributes regularly to publications like Modern Drummer, DRUM and Classic Drummer. He has performed hundreds of clinics and master classes globally, appearing at many of the world’s top educational institutions (such as U of Miami’s Frost School of Music), conferences (such as JEN, the Jazz Education Network) and music festivals (Percussive Arts Society Int’l Conv, Modern Drummer Festival).

In 2016, Daniel created an annual 4-day Jazz Drumming Intensive in New York City, which draws an international student base, and features renowned guest clinicians such as Carl Allen, Kenny Washington and Sean Pelton. In 2021, Daniel brought the Jazz Intensive concept to Europe, and to date has hosted three annual events at the Groovekiste Musik Akademie near Frankfurt, Germany.

A pioneer in online education, Daniel works one-on-one with an average of 50 private students each month (who hail from five continents). His online educational portal – Drumming In Motion – offers a wide range of courses, all based in Daniel’s unique, proprietary method of teaching known as the Motion Based System.

In 2013, Daniel co-curated an exhibit on the history of the drum set at the Rhythm Discovery Center in Indianapolis, IN, for which he was awarded the Percussive Arts Society’s “Distinguished Service Award.”

In 1994, Daniel joined a powerhouse septet from Los Angeles called Royal Crown Revue. RCR’s unique blending of classic sound, Zoot-suited style and modern raw power inspired a global “Retro-Swing” resurgence that continues to present day. As the original house band at the Derby Club, RCR quickly became the hottest live attraction in L.A. Key appearances in the Jim Carrey blockbuster The Mask (1994) and Jon Favreau’s Swingers (1996) would cement the band’s reputation as an important taste-maker and musical force to be reckoned with. In 1995, RCR was signed to Warner Bros Records by super-producer Ted Templeman (of Van Halen and Doobie Brothers fame). Over the next seven years, RCR’s releases, Mugzy’s Move (1996), Caught in the Act (1997), The Contender (1998 – on which Daniel co-wrote 5 tracks), Walk on Fire (1999) and Passport to Australia (2001) – would sell well over 500,000 units. Daniel stayed active with RCR until 2014, recording a total of 8 CDs, and producing the band’s 2004 release, Greetings from Hollywood.