Daniel Barnes
Biography
DANIEL BARNES (drummer, singer, writer, producer) was born May 24, 1965 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He began his professional career at age 16 with the Micah Barnes Trio. He took private lessons from several well-known drummers and also studied piano and music theory. He attended the Banff Summer Jazz Workshop twice in the late 1980s.
As a sideman, Barnes has worked with the top echelon of Canadian jazz artists, including Holly Cole, Jane Bunnett, Hilario Duran, Molly Johnson, Carol Welsman and Pat LaBarbera. Daniel's drumming contributed toward Joe Sealy's Juno Award for Africville Suite in 1996. His concert music is performed and recorded internationally.
He was co-leader of the Daniel Barnes/Dave Restivo Quintet in the late 1980s, and has recorded with Tony award winner Theresa Tova. For ten years he was a contributing writer and drummer with the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, and he toured Europe, the U.S., the Caribbean and Africa throughout the 1990s with Ethiopian singing stars Aster Aweke and Mouhamed Ahmed. Other groups he has performed with include Base is Bass, John James and the Mothers of Hope, The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, The Drifters, and Liberty Silver.
In 2003 Barnes released his debut contemporary jazz CD, Culmination, the same year that he received a nomination as ‘Drummer of the Year’ at the National Jazz Awards. His 'hit' single Five O'Clock Shadow was reissued on JAZZ.FM91's New Standards Vol. 1. He followed that up with the CD “Classic Beauties”. Daniel is currently musical director for singer Colin Hunter and has recently has a musical reunion with his talented brother, singer Micah Barnes.
