Education
He graduated from Northwestern University in 1999 with degrees in European history and jazz piano.
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Dan Cray
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He was a finalist for both the 2004 American Pianists Association Cole Porter Fellowship and the 2003 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, and has performed around the world in many diverse and creative settings with a variety of vocalists and instrumentalists including Billy Drummond, Bobby Broom, Dayna Stephens, Joe Martin, Avishai Cohen, Mark Ferber, and Geof Bradfield. The Trio"s music has been featured twice on the hit television show Gossip Girl, and they were personally selected by Michael Keaton to provide music for his directorial debut, “The Merry Gentleman.” The Trio performed at the Chicago and Idlewild Jazz Festivals and at venues around the country including the 75th anniversary celebration at Baker"s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit. Together the group released four CDs: Who Cares (2001), Number One (Blujazz 2003), Save Us (Blujazz 2005), and the live recording Over Here Over Heard (Crawdad 2008).
Their last two studio CDs spent over 10 weeks on the National and College Jazz Charts, while Chicago"s National Public Radio station WBEZ named each among the year"s best in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
In the fall of 2009, Cray moved to Brooklyn, New York to continue pursuing his career while working on a Master"s degree at New York University. During this time, he was appointed adjunct professor at New York University, teaching jazz, classical and popular in private and group settings.
After graduating in May of 2011, Dan recorded his fifth album Meridies, consisting of mostly original works and featuring saxophonist Noah Preminger, drummer Mark Ferber and bassist Clark Sommers. lieutenant was released on Origin Records in March 2012, and was awarded four stars and inclusion on the best of 2012 list by Downbeat Magazine.
Dan spent the 2013-2014 school year in Reno, Nevada working as a lecturer at the University of Nevada.
