Music Related News & Events

Music Related News & Events

The Newest Album from Dan Pinto, ANOMALIES is released.

June 10, 2009

Source: Eclectic Sound A & R

ANOMALIES:

Dan Pinto has taken the best of what he's learned over the years and come up with a release that appeals to Jazz-Rock Fusion and Modern Jazz fans but even moreover morphs this combination of styles with Film Score music. He has an excellent grasp on how to create an orchestral sound and beautifully blends his professional experience of writing music for film in order to create a truly unique combination.

Any piece of music could be considered a highlight on this CD, but if we had to say, we would start with the modern jazz feel of "Bermuda Triangle." Featuring saxophonist/flutist, John Asti, this piece is fluid. Seamless synthesizer effects with live soft brass and woodwinds give you that spine tingling feeling and will move you from start to finish.

In contrast, there's "Labyrinth." Featuring electric guitarist, Ivan Romero, this piece is a lesson in precision and power. Based on Progressive Jazz-Rock improvisation, the opening theme is somewhat Mexican in nature. It quickly turns into an exciting piece packed with many complex keyboard and guitar passages.

To add yet another nice touch to this collection of works, Dan features award winning singer/songwriter Rhonda Schuster on "Flight Of The Phoenix." Dan Pinto's well written lyrics are beautifully brought to life with a message of hope dedicated to the survivors of the 9/11 disaster.

"Pyramids" is a perfect example of what Dan Pinto is truly about. Beginning with what is unmistakably a film score opening, this piece cleverly but quietly utilizes Dan's drumming and rhythmic abilities to build on what becomes a very dynamic melody with a nice memorable hook.

The overall album concept and packaging is also a treat. The back cover and illustrations inside feature the artistic talents of Dan Pinto himself as well as a cover photo by award winning Finland photographer, Tom Eklund. The inner gatefold offers a crossword puzzle in line with the title concept. The final result of "Anomalies" is a creative work that offers much more than one would expect but more importantly, something that you would come to expect from the likes of Dan Pinto.

BIOGRAPHY:

Having had considerable success composing music for nationally syndicated television, Dan Pinto's early stages simply started as a Rock drummer in local bands. His very first accolade came at age 16 as "Best Solo Instrumentalist" for a very unusual rendition of "America" by Leonard Bernstein in only his second year at the keyboard. Over the next few years, Dan retained his drumming and percussion abilities while vastly improving his keyboard playing and composing efforts and by the age of 19, debut those efforts as the keyboardist/drummer-percussionist for the band "Juice" when they opened for Joan Jett and The Blackhearts in 1981. For the next 8 years, Dan played with many bands in most major clubs in New York and New Jersey with minor success. But that changed when he decided to move exclusively to composing and recording. Shortly after joining BMI, his music began appearing on industrial and commercial video for companies such as AT&T, RCA, CNN and others as well as for local cable TV stations. Then in 1991 he broke into national television when his original work, "Back To The Sea" was placed for the Robin Leach show, "Runaway with the Rich & Famous." His success continued on "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" and by the end of 1993 his music was placed with no less than 10 episodes that also aired internationally.

By 1994, Dan Pinto had released 3 albums of material on his own which included many of the works that he had done for television. And in 1995, he equipped his studio to enable video editing and recording capability in an attempt to further expand his composing efforts by producing a film for the sole purpose of writing its soundtrack. The movie itself was an independent promotional experiment but the music was released on Eclectic Sound Records in 1999. A new version of the closing credits composition soundtrack piece titled "Never Ending Good-bye" was re-released on a new album titled "Visions" in 2000 along with eight other never before released tracks. Dan also released a Christmas album this same year, his second. In 2001 he did some studio work including performing drums with Dixie Dregg's bassist, Dave LaRue resulting in a Jimmy Mac CD release titled "Double OT." For the next several years, Dan worked with independent filmmakers taking time away from releasing full albums.

In 2006 Dan received a nomination for "Best Instrumental" in the "Just Plain Folks Music Awards" for his track "The Haunting" from his "Ivory Towers" CD. Also during this year he worked with long time famed Jazz musician/songwriter "Horace Ott,"(composer of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood") taking part in a presentation for the New Jersey Movie Makers Network on scoring music for movies at the MEMFEST FILM FESTIVAL.

Dan Pinto is currently working on material for his forthcoming CD release which will feature a compilation of works exclusively for the Piano. And in the near future his website will be gearing up to feature his work for television and video. For updates on Dan's work, visit the "Dan Pinto Official Website"

Websites:
Dan Pinto Official Website
CD Ordering page
Discography & Song Clips
MySpace.com

Dan Pinto

Dan Pinto breaks boundries in Jazz-rock Fusion by combining it with Film Music.

by Eclectic Sound

There is a new presence on the web among composers in the World of Jazz-rock Fusion that has been quietly going about doing his work. Uniquely gifted, Dan Pinto has made a concentrated effort to bring to light a music style in a different way that of which has not yet been widely heard. With the development of Internet technology over the last 10 years, that is changing. His dedication to his work is unwavering as he continues to redefine the meaning of the style, "Jazz-rock Fusion." By combining this form of music with orchestral arrangements in a film soundtrack styled environment, he in fact has developed something very different.

Born in 1960, Dan Pinto's background as a musician started when he was 11 years of age. He began developing his talent on drums which quickly expanded to the keyboard soon afterward. He attributes his advancing on to the keyboard largely due to the early 70s progressive rock keyboardists of the era, such as Keith Emerson, Chick Corea and Rick Wakeman. Many musicians that you read about have a formal background of schooling that would easily explain the reason for the talent that they possess. But for Dan, studying on his own with no formal training, he found the resources to develop his natural ability that would always push him to the next step. His first live performance was at age 13, his first award, at age 16 for best solo instrumentalist and by age 20, he was the keyboardist/drummer-percussionist for the band "Juice" when they opened for "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" in 1980. Having gone on to perform with many local bands in most major clubs in the New York area throughout the 1980s, Dan Pinto soon realized that he needed to develop his skills at writing if he was going to continue to grow.

Building his own recording studio from the ground up in the latter part of the 1980s, Dan Pinto joined BMI in 1991 and began submitting his recordings. As early as age 8, he always had an interest in film-making and so he geared his music accordingly. Acceptance of his music was swift as he placed his material in projects for AT&T, RCA and CNN as well as local cable TV stations. He got a good break in 1992 when his music was accepted for placement on many Robin Leach hosted television shows. "Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous" and "Runaway With The Rich and Famous" would lead to several years of success for Dan's music. But TV and Industrial video were not completely satisfying enough for Dan as he needed to involve more expression in the visual aspects of his sound.

By 1993, Dan Pinto went back into his now well developed audio studio to release three albums within two years. Then, after taking a year off, he began a new project that few, if any musicians would ever try. Adding to his studio in order to accommodate video recording and editing, Dan began to write a screenplay for a movie idea. The sole purpose for this was to compose a film soundtrack. For the next 3 years, Dan pooled together the help of over one hundred participants to complete the project with what was no budget to speak of. This was a vastly incredible undertaking for one person who had no experience in filmmaking whatsoever. In 1998, Dan Pinto began writing the soundtrack for his movie that took the entire year to complete. "Die For A Life" was released as an audio-only soundtrack CD. Samples of this soundtrack can be heard on the "Discography Page" of his website. The film remains in promotional status but Dan plans on doing more with that in the future. Dan submits that his goal was not to be a filmmaker, but rather to learn how to make a film and in doing so, get a grasp of what a film producer looks for when applying the music for such. That's a brilliant way to go about it if you've got what it takes. But this goes right back to what Dan Pinto is all about as he goes to extremes to get the job done. Later after the film's completion, Dan received a follow-up letter from an attendee at the film s private screening that went on to say, "Let's face it, if "Die For A Life" had been made for college credit, today I'd be addressing this to Dan Pinto, Ph.D. - it was a hugely successful dissertation!"

In 2000, Dan Pinto released a CD titled "Visions," which included all new compositions using a combination of orchestral arrangement, ballad and new age material. Since then, he had been working quietly on independent films. But starting in 2006, he went back into the studio and began writing with a new goal in mind. With Dan's experience in working on orchestral sound and writing music for film & video along with his many years of composing music in styles of Jazz-rock Fusion, he has yet again come up with another triumph. In February of 2008, Dan Pinto's latest was released as "Anomalies" is what has now become his landmark style of Fusion music. He combines Jazz-rock with film soundtrack styles and presents something new and different. To further enhance his new release, he's invited three superb players to contribute to the sound. The addition of electric guitar, sax, flute and female vocal has made "Anomalies" and Dan Pinto's music style brand of fusion all that much more refined.

Dan Pinto breaks boundaries as a musician by doing things to develop his style that few others would have the stamina to accomplish. He has contributed much of his life to the development of his music style and continues to take on new and interesting projects as a result. The "Dan Pinto Official Website" offers very informative material on his work with everything from his biography, MP3 audio samples, video clips, interviews and more. He continues to forge ahead in ways that set him apart from other composers.