Dan Siegel (born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington) is a pianist, composer, and record producer. His earlier music has been described as new age, while his more recent work has been called contemporary jazz.

Music career

Siegel was born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Eugene, Oregon. When he was eight, he began piano lessons, and at 12 he was performing professionally in a rock band. He went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, then the University of Oregon. After college, he started recording his own compositions. He signed with the jazz record label Inner City Records and recorded his first album, ''Nite Ride'' (1980). His second album, ''The Hot Spot'' (1982), reached the top ten of the jazz chart in ''Billboard'' magazine. He moved to Los Angeles and composed music for movies and television. In 1986 he signed with Epic Records and released a series of

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

albums. In parallel he produced and recorded three albums with the fusion/mainstream band Birds of a Feather—''Birds of a Feather'', ''Above the Clouds'', and ''Stand Together''—and released the self-titled album by the band Future Prospect.

Television and film work

Siegel's work as a television and film composer includes the score for the film ''

Reform School Girls ''Reform School Girls'' is a 1986 American prison black comedy film, written and directed by Tom DeSimone. It stars Linda Carol, Wendy O. Williams, Pat Ast, Sybil Danning and Sherri Stoner, and depicts the story of a young girl (played by Carol ...

'' (1986), and Universal Studios TV series, ''

Hard Copy ''Hard Copy'' is an American tabloid television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. ''Hard Copy'' was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence. The original hosts of ''Hard Copy' ...

'' (1987). He has also worked as musical director and conductor on the late night CBS TV show, ''Overtime... with Pat O'Brien'' (1990). He has played on numerous TV and film projects as a session player, including the Oscar-winning film ''

The Usual Suspects ''The Usual Suspects'' is a 1995 neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwait ...

''. His music was also featured on the Weather Channel's Local Forecast segments from 1986 to 1991.

Discography

Studio albums

* 1980 ''Nite Ride'' (

Inner City The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

) * 1981 ''The Hot Shot'' (Inner City) * 1981 ''Oasis'' (Inner City) * 1982 ''Dan Siegel'' ( Elektra) * 1983 ''Reflections'' ( Epic) * 1984 ''Another Time, Another Place'' (Epic) * 1985 ''On the Edge'' (Epic) * 1986 ''Short Stories'' (Epic) * 1987 ''Northern Nights'' ( Columbia) * 1989 ''Late One Night'' (Epic) * 1991 ''Going Home'' (Epic) * 1993 ''The Getaway'' (Sin-Drome) * 1995 ''Hemispheres'' (Sunset Boulevard) * 1998 ''Clairvoyance'' (Countdown) * 2001 ''Key of Joy'' (

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

) * 2004 ''Inside Out'' (

Native Language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

) * 2006 ''Departure'' (Native Language) * 2008 ''Fables'' (Native Language) * 2009 ''Sphere'' (DSM), also available as Sphere Triple Deluxe, a 3-CD set containing additionally to ''Sphere'' the 2 albums ''Fables'' and ''Departure'' * 2014 ''Indigo'' (DSM) * 2018 ''Origins'' (DSM) * 2021 ''Faraway Place'' (DSM)

Compilation albums

* 2000 ''Along The Way, The Best of Dan Siegel'' (Sony) (includes 1 new song - ''From the Heart'') * 2016 ''The Inner City Years'', a 3-CD set containing the albums ''Nite Ride'', ''The Hot Shot'' and ''Oasis''

with Birds of a Feather

* 1987 Birds of A Feather (Optimism) * 1994 Above the Clouds (Brainchild) * 1996 Stand Together (Playful)

with Future Prospect

* 1987 ''Future Prospect'' (Optimism)

References

External links

Official site

All Music
*
Jazz da Gama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegel, Dan American jazz pianists American male pianists Smooth jazz pianists Living people Musicians from Seattle Musicians from Eugene, Oregon University of Oregon alumni Pausa Records artists Inner City Records artists South Eugene High School alumni 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Native Language Music artists Pony Canyon artists Businesspeople from Eugene, Oregon