Background
Daniels was born in New York City to a Jewish family, and his mother emigrated from Romania.
Daniels was born in New York City to a Jewish family, and his mother emigrated from Romania.
Although he is best known as a jazz clarinet player, he has also played alto and tenor saxophones, as well as classical music on the clarinet. He was raised in the Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. He became interested in jazz as a teenager when he was impressed by the musicians accompanying singers, such as Frank Sinatra, on recordings.
Daniels" first instrument was the alto saxophone, and by the age of 15 he had played at the Newport Jazz Festival youth competition.
At the age of 13, he was also playing clarinet. Daniels has toured and recorded with a variety of bands, small groups and orchestras, and appeared on television many times.
Since the 1980s, he has focused mainly on the clarinet. He has also played with artists such as Freddie Hubbard(1969), Richard Davis, Don Patterson, and Bucky Pizzarelli.
Early on, Eddie Daniels played with The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and most recently has been featured as a guest artist with Gordon Goodwin"s Big Phat Band, on the album Swingin" Foreign The Fences, the first album by the band.
He featured in Goodwin"s arrangement of Mozart"s 40th symphony in G minor on XXL, and on the Big Phat Band"s album The Phat Pack on "Under The Wire". In 2009 the Swiss composer and saxophonist Daniel Schnyder composed a Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra called MATRIX 21 for Eddie Daniels and dedicated it to him. lieutenant was commissioned by the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (Switzerland) and world-premiered in Lausanne under its artistic director Christian Zacharias in January 2010.
The American premiere took place at the Crested Butte Music Festival on July 18, 2010, under the direction of music director Jens Georg Bachmann.