Danny Jonokuchi
is a multi-talented jazz artist based in New York City and Los Angeles. As a jazz trumpeter, vocalist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator, few artists are as diversely involved in their craft. He has been recognized for his performance on two GRAMMY Award-Winning projects, and you can hear his compositions and “world-class arrangements” (Broadway World) in renowned jazz clubs, listen to albums he has arranged and produced, and hear him perform on Broadway stages.

His newest big band album “Past is Present” will be released on April 5th, 2024 and his most recent big band album, “Voices”, features 11 jazz vocalists from New York City. He is also a recipient of several awards including the 2024 ISJAC Wayne Shorter Jazz Arranging Prize, the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Award, and he was unanimously named the winner of the 2020 Count Basie Great American Swing Contest. DownBeat Magazine remarked, “The music is expertly executed and offers an infectious, kinetic quality.”

Danny currently leads The Danny Jonokuchi Big Band, a 17-piece collection that performs Danny’s original works, and Danny Jonokuchi & The Revisionists, a swing band dedicated to performing for the international Lindy Hop community and have “a classic swing sound you wouldn’t think possible” (Syncopated Times).

Composing and arranging have always been Danny’s passion and his “well-crafted arrangements” (Jazz Weekly) have been performed by an incredible array of artists including Lady Gaga, Catherine Russell, Grammy-Winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis, The Duke Ellington Legacy, The U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note, The Capitol Symphonie Orchester of Germany, The Budapest Scoring Orchestra, The Nashville Pops Orchestra, the United States Maneuver Center of Excellence Band, The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Brian Newman, Benny Benack III, Charles Turner & Uptown Swing, Hannah Gill, The Christian Wiggs Big Band, The Ulysses Owens Jr. Big Band, The Birdland Big Band, The South Philly Big Band, Svetlana, & Peter Bernstein.

Danny contributed to two GRAMMY award-winning projects with The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra and the 8-Bit Big Band, and has performed on Broadway stages, dozens of studio albums, subbed with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and can be heard trumpeting on the acclaimed game Red Dead Redemption 2. His playing has also been featured on PBS, NPR, HBO, and Good Morning America. Danny has performed on distinguished stages including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Broadway’s Lyceum Theater, Birdland Jazz Club, The Blue Note NYC, Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Bimhaus (Netherlands), and the North Sea Jazz Festival. A frequently traveling musician, Danny has performed in the U.K., South Korea, Israel, Germany, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium.

Danny is originally from Los Angeles and holds a Master’s degree in composition from The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College with the support of the Sir Roland Hanna Memorial Scholarship, and was the recipient of the Boyer Alumni Award as an undergraduate from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. His notable mentors include jazz luminaries Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Luis Bonilla, Bruce Barth, and John Swana. He has studied composition & arranging with Michael Philip Mossman, John Clayton, Darcy James Argue, Norman David, and David Berger. His early champions were Matt Finders, David Washburn, Ira Nepus, & John Mosley.

The Danny Jonokuchi Big Band
is a bi-coastal 17-piece big band comprised of legendary jazz musicians and future jazz greats. The band has delivered sold-out performances in Los Angeles and New York City at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, Birdland Jazz Club, Vibrato, The Django, Minton’s Playhouse, Vitello’s, Catalina Jazz Club, The Ziegfeld Ballroom, and Gotham Hall. The band exclusively performs compositions and arrangements by Danny Jonokuchi that span from nostalgic songs reminiscent of the swing era to modern pieces with weaving melodies and colorful harmony.

Their highly anticipated album - “Voices” - is out now and features 11 incredible jazz vocalists from New York City. “Voices” is a testament to the power of collaboration and creativity and has been called “an album in which every cut is prime” - Will Friedwald (The New York Sun). With “unparalleled beauty on each track” (Paris Move), from soulful ballads to upbeat swing tunes, the album has something for every jazz lover out there.