Dan Berkey has been playing jazz for five years, and while his instrument of choice is the saxophone he is well versed in piano and bass as well. One of the defining moments in Berkey’s already impressive jazz career was when he had the opportunity to play at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago.
The Jazz Showcase is the oldest and one of the most high profile jazz clubs inChicago. Even more daunting was when Berkey performed at Andy’s, another premiere jazz club, when he was just 13 years old. “They wouldn’t even let me play at first,” explained Berkey. “But when I went up and played, everybody loved it.” After his well-received performance he attended the club every Sunday that summer.
Although New York City is the ultimate destination for Berkey, he considers himself lucky to be so conveniently located near one of the best jazz cities in the country. “It’s cool because there’s this whole community of musicians in Chicago who I can get to know,” he continued, “It really helps me out just being able to play with people, I learn so much just by hearing and watching them play—you can learn something from everybody.”
In fact, bass player Dennis Carroll, who has played alongside jazz heavy weights such as Bobby Broom among many others, has acted as a mentor of sorts to Berkey.
Berkey has also developed connections with his peers, “There are some really great people in the school like Peter Gabrielides, he’s incredible.” Gabrielides has known Berky for over 2 years, and is still in awe of his talent. “He’s one of the best saxophonists in the country, and easily the best for his age, there’s no question in my mind that’s true.”
Gabrielides’ role is to accompany Berkey while he solos, which is no easy task. “Accompanying Dan is so hard, he does some things that are so unbelievably difficult, and when you hear it as a listener it sounds good but it’s so complicated and subtle in its nuances to find just the right accompaniment. What he does is insane.”
Gabrielides also acclaimed Berkey for his creativity. “He can play really fast and do really impressive things, but he chooses not to for the service of good music.”
Berkey has remained committed to his craft as he both writes and listens to jazz music every day. In fact, he is never without music paper. So if you ever see him scribbling something down in English class it’s most likely a jazz composition as opposed to mindless doodles. “I can’t concentrate when I have a song in my head so I have to write it down otherwise I won’t remember it or will be singing to the whole class,” he adds dryly.
“I don’t have some sprinting place where I draw inspiration from, it’s just from life, but I’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from Law and Order lately,” he explained.
In order to further his jazz development, Berkey attended the Illinois Summer Youth Music Program hosted by the University of Illinois when he was an incoming 8th grader. Berkey thoroughly enjoyed the experience because he was able to “make more connections with professional musicians.” Though attending the prestigious Vail Jazz Workshop last summer stands as one of Berkey’s favorite jazz experiences.
The Vail Jazz Workshop is a 10 day program that accepts only 12 jazz musicians from across the country. In order to be considered, an individual must be nominated by a music teacher, band director, or music professional.
The program is rigorous with 12 hour days and at the end of their stay they are dubbed the “Vail Jazz All Stars” and perform opening night for the Labor Weekend Jazz Party. “It was great,” Berkey said recalling the experience, “I got to meet all of these incredible musicians from around the country who were my age.”
Nicholas Meyer, New Trier’s Director of Jazz Ensembles, has been following Berkey’s development as a jazz artist for nearly five years. “His talent at the start was precociousness, and he was willing to be a real musical extrovert.”
What Meyer finds most striking about Berkey’s is his fearless attitude towards jazz. “What’s been one of Daniel’s great assets is not being real aware of how difficult a task might be. He was ignorant of the challenge in front of him and just went after it and chose not to see stumbling blocks that other people see.”
However, Meyer describes playing alongside Berkey as “humbling. He’s a much better saxophonist than I am,” he states bluntly, “but it’s fun because one of Daniel’s hallmarks as a musician is his really strong desire to collaborate with other people making music.”
“A lot of young improvisers will just do their own thing and take for granted that someone is accompanying them,” he adds, “Daniel really wants to have that interaction, so he’s listening all the time and tries to have a true dialogue going.”
The admiration is mutual between Berkey and Meyer. “He was the person who really inspired me when I first began to play,” Berky said. The same passion and curiosity for music rings true today for Berkey.
“I think that when some kids are really good at music they force themselves to sit down in the practice room all day and just have this iron discipline,” Gabrielides explained, “but what’s remarkable about Dan is that he’s playing music all the time because he wants to. He’s just so clearly intrigued by it.”
“One thing that makes me really proud of Daniel is his really strong desire to share his passion with younger musicians,” explained Meyer. “I think Daniel is aware of the fact that a lot of the younger kids look up to him and he sees this as an opportunity to share as much of his knowledge. A lot of high school musicians are just focused on what they’re doing, but I think really Daniel sees the value in creating this community. Not only is he indirectly inspiring kids, but he’s actively inspiring them.”
In fact, the senior jazz musicians host a jam session at New Trier every month. Berkey has made a conscious effort to interact with the other jazz musicians because of his experiences as a young student.
“I was a super different person when I first started playing jazz. I couldn’t figure out who I was, but when I played saxophone it was very validating because I was good at it. I could go home and practice and the next day there was a concrete thing. Then I saw these incredible high school musicians playing at this unbelievable level. I got to know them and they helped me out so much.”
Although Berkey is deep into his jazz career, he still remains in admiration of the musical genre. “Jazz is something everyone should explore because jazz is a really powerful thing. At least I think so,” he added, “I’m kind of a music nerd.”