Eddie Daniels
b. 19 October 1941, New York City, New York, USA. Before choosing the clarinet as his principal instrument, Daniels played both alto and tenor saxophones. A graduate of the New York High School of the Performing Arts, Brooklyn College and the Juilliard School of Music, he worked as a teenager with Maxwell Brown's Youth Band and Tony Scott. In the mid-'60s, he began a six-year association with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band and also played and recorded with leading jazz figures such as Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins and Richard Davis. Gifted with a phenomenal technique, Daniels has been tempted into third-stream music, recording with Friedrich Gulda and has performed several works in a classical vein. His bright, clearly articulated playing has attracted a considerable following. As always with technically proficient musicians in jazz, there are some who question the depths of his jazz feeling. Clarinettist predecessors who also attracted criticism of this kind include Benny Goodman and Buddy De Franco, so if this is a flaw then Daniels is certainly in good company. In a period when the clarinet has been in the shadows of jazz, Daniels' work has been one of the few bright lights that have helped maintain the instrument's role.