Danny Jonokuchi

Danny Jonokuchi is a multi-talented jazz artist based in New York City and Los Angeles. As a jazz trumpeter, vocalist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator, few artists are as diversely involved in their craft. He has been recognized for his performance on two GRAMMY Award-Winning projects, his signature “world-class arrangements” (Broadway World), and albums he has performed on and produced. He is also a recipient of several awards including the 2024 ISJAC Wayne Shorter Jazz Arranging Prize, the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Award, and he was unanimously named the winner of the 2020 Count Basie Great American Swing Contest.

His latest big band album, A Decade, is his fifth release as a leader and serves as an autobiographical chronicle of his experiences in New York City. His recent big band albums are Past is Present (2024), featuring the music of longtime collaborator Jordan Seigel, and Voices (2023), featuring 11 of New York’s finest jazz vocalists.

Danny currently leads The Danny Jonokuchi Big Band, a 17-piece collection that performs Danny’s original compositions and arrangements, and Danny Jonokuchi & The Revisionists, a swing band dedicated to performing for the international Lindy Hop community and have “a classic swing sound you wouldn’t think possible” (Syncopated Times). Along with multimodal artist Sirintip, Danny co-composed a suite for 9-piece ensemble entitled “Mycelium” that premiered at the Jazz Gallery NYC.

Composing and arranging have always been Danny’s passion and his “well-crafted arrangements” (Jazz Weekly) have been performed by an incredible array of artists including Lady Gaga, Grammy-Winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis, Catherine Russell, The U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note, The Duke Ellington Legacy, The Capitol Symphonie Orchester of Germany, The Budapest Scoring Orchestra, The Nashville Pops Orchestra, the United States Maneuver Center of Excellence Band, The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Brian Newman, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Benny Benack III, Charles Turner & Uptown Swing, Hannah Gill, The Christian Wiggs Big Band, The Ulysses Owens Jr. Big Band, The Birdland Big Band, The South Philly Big Band, The Greg Ruvolo Big Band Collective, Svetlana, & Peter Bernstein.

Danny performed on two GRAMMY award-winning projects with The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra and the 8-Bit Big Band, and has performed on Broadway stages, dozens of studio albums, subbed with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and can be heard trumpeting on the acclaimed game Red Dead Redemption 2. His playing has also been featured on PBS, NPR, HBO, and Good Morning America. Danny has performed on distinguished stages including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Broadway’s Lyceum Theater, Birdland Jazz Club, The Blue Note NYC, Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Bimhaus (Netherlands), and the North Sea Jazz Festival. A frequently traveling musician, Danny has performed in the U.K., South Korea, Israel, Germany, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium.

Danny is originally from Los Angeles and holds a Master’s degree in composition from The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College with the support of the Sir Roland Hanna Memorial Scholarship, and was the recipient of the Boyer Alumni Award as an undergraduate from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. His notable mentors include jazz luminaries Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Luis Bonilla, Bruce Barth, and John Swana. He has studied composition & arranging with Michael Philip Mossman, John Clayton, Darcy James Argue, Norman David, and David Berger.  His early champions were Matt Finders, David Washburn, Ira Nepus, & John Mosley.

Awards

2024 ISJAC Wayne Shorter Jazz Arranging Prize

2020 Inaugural Count Basie Swing Contest Winner

2020 ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Award