Composer/cellist/trombonist Dana Leong blends jazz, classical and pop to create a signature sound. Dana’s pioneering collage of musical styles has garnered critical acclaim and wowed audiences around the world. He has collaborated with top jazz artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Christian McBride, Dafnis Prieto, and Henry Threadgill; and has worked with such diverse artists as Ray Charles, Barry White, Kanye West, Wynton Marsalis, Bjork, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yoko Ono and Lila Downs.
Dana writes original music for, and tours with two ensembles: his classical-influenced pop/jazz instrumental trio, Dana Leong Trio, and his high energy hip-hop/jazz quartet, MILK & JADE. Dana Leong Trio features Dana (cello/trombone), an electric guitarist and a DJ, and is the latest incarnation of Leong’s ever-expansive compositions, bringing together an exciting blend of instrumental techniques, musical cultures and genres. The trio was a featured act at the 2011 Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York City and the group will also perform at the Sleepless Night Miami Beach festival in November 2011. His quartet MILK & JADE toured all over Southeast Asia as part of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State Department-sponsored tour, The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad in 2008 and has since then been a smashing hit at numerous festivals in Europe, Asia and the US.
In addition to touring, Dana is a prolific composer and arranger, having recently written and premiered Bound(less), a new work for an aerial dance company Project Bandaloop at the Orange County Performing Arts Center as well as an evening length work, Life After Dark, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. He was a featured guest music director and performer in Fela! on Broadway in 2010 and is the first ever Composer-In-Residence for The Museum of Chinese in America in New York City.
Dana grew up in San Francisco and studied classical cello and jazz trombone on double scholarships at Manhattan School of Music. Dana gives clinics and workshops around the globe as an official performing artist and clinician for YAMAHA and D’Addario Bowed Strings.
