Pianist and composer Daniel García Diego starts his own adventure with his debut album as
leader, ALBA, after years of research and silent study.
Graduated with honors in Castilla y León Conservatory under the tutelage of great pianist
Sophia Hasse, Daniel learns jazz from Master Horacio Icasto. Later on, he is granted with a
full scholarship to study in Berklee College of Music in Boston. There he expands his concepts
in jazz and improvisation under guidance and good advice of great masters like Danilo Pérez,
John Patitucci, Dave Santoro, Johanne Brackeen or Ray Santisi among others. He is
awarded with the “Best Jazz Performance Award” in 2011 at Berklee and invited by Danilo
Pérez to present his unique blending of jazz and Spanish music in Panama International Jazz
Festival. It is Danilo Pérez who encourages Daniel to use the two closest-to-his-heart musical
worlds: Spanish folk - which he always listened to at home since childhood - and jazz - to which
he always felt a natural inclination – in order to investigate how these two different styles can be
merged to a deeper level beyond the apparent.
With this solid knowledge, the idea of making “ALBA” has been that of starting from scratch and
tries to redefine the concept of fusion between traditional music and jazz. The result is this
music full of honesty. To give it life, Daniel has counted on great artists and friends like Jorge
Pardo, Alain Pérez, Ariel Brínguez, Michael Olivera, Mariola Membrives, Reinier Elizarde
“El Negrón”, Alejandro Vega, Jorge Pérez or Maureen Choi among others. In this work, the
borders between jazz, flamenco and traditional Spanish music become completely blurred and
the result is a type of music where it is not clear where one of them starts and the other ends.
With improvisation as a connecting thread and an eye always looking at the roots and essence
of this huge musical universe, Daniel tries to express with his music what cannot be said with
words.