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Bruce McDaniel (born September 23, 1962) is an American musician and record producer currently living in New Orleans.
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Bruce McDaniel (born September 23, 1962) is an American musician and record producer currently living in New Orleans.
McDaniel was born in Boston, Massachusetts, of Mexican and Scottish/American parents on September 23, 1962, and grew up in New York. He was raised by musical parents who met while attending the Juilliard School of Music. He had an early start in NYC's underground punk rock scene as lead guitarist for the Sic F*cks with Tish Bellomo and Snooky Bellomo, a band who, despite the inability to have their name said on the radio, parlayed their comedy-punk spectacle to a feature in Playboy Magazine and movie appearances, including 1982's Alone in the Dark.
After the dissolution of the late '70s punk scene, McDaniel laid low for much of the 1980s, recording jingles and demos. A group of these demos, recorded under the name Life of Riley (featuring Peter Engisch and Perry Gartner) were picked up by Grammy-award nominated producer Paul Wickliffe, who produced an album's worth of material for the group, only to have the arrangement (and the group) dissolve under contract disputes. Several of these tracks can be heard on the McDaniel/Gartner collection Ongepotchket.
Through the 1990s, he served as guitarist and bassist for R&B singer Vaneese Thomas, daughter of Rufus Thomas, known for her 1987 top 20 hits "Let's Talk It Over" and "(I Wanna Get) Close To You". McDaniel was ultimately elevated to the role of musical director of her touring band, a job which he still holds.
The 1990s also saw the formation of McDaniel's band Nine Men's Morris and their first release Monster in My Stomach on Segue Records. McDaniel provided the songs, guitars and lead vocals, and was joined by Gartner on drums and bassist Donald Kyle. The follow-up album, It's a Wonderful Life, was released in 2004 to excellent reviews, with the title cut being featured on MTV's show Made.
In 2000, McDaniel extended his musical horizons by composing a ballet, Alice in Wonderland , set on the East Coast Youth Ballet. The ballet was performed in 2001 and 2002 at the Rich Forum and Palace Theater in Stamford, Connecticut, to sold-out houses and rave reviews.
McDaniel has also performed/recorded with Gil Parris, Valerie Capers, Carla Thomas, Paul Shaffer, Randy Brecker, Johnny Thunders, Lydia Lunch, James Chance, Richard Lloyd, Shawn Pelton, Sid McGinnis, Kirk Whalum, Jill Sobule, Nick Moroch, Paul Adamy, Shelton Becton, Chieli Minucci, Philippe Saisse, Eileen Ivers, Tommy Mandel, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Mike Keneally, Ray White, Wycliffe Gordon, David Spinozza, Bernie Williams, Lloyd Price, Average White Band, Todd Rundgren and the Ed Palermo Big Band, among others.
As of December 2006, he is the lead vocalist and guitar player for Nine Men's Morris, and can be seen performing the music of Frank Zappa with the Ed Palermo Big Band.
In 2008 he composed the score for the film School Play, which won the Best Documentary Film award at the Big Apple Film Festival in New York.
In late 2008, he produced the album Eddy Loves Frank for the Ed Palermo Big Band, which was released early in 2009. Eddy Loves Frank spent 10 weeks in the CMJ Jazz charts top 20, peaking at number 5.[ citation needed ]
In 2010 and 2011, McDaniel provided the music for Climate Week NYC.
As of 2009, the reformed Sic F*cks have been performing sporadically in and around New York City with McDaniel on guitar. In November 2011, they performed in Hamilton, Ontario with guests J. P. Patterson of The Dictators, Albert Bouchard of Blue Öyster Cult and Gord Lewis from Teenage Head. Other guest appearances with the band have included Dennis Dunaway of Alice Cooper and Jeff Magnum of The Dead Boys.
As of 2011, McDaniel is performing with a reformed lineup of the Tuff Darts, filling the guitar role of the late Jeff Salen.
In 2014, he produced the album Oh No, Not Jazz! for the Ed Palermo Big Band, which received a 4-star review from Down Beat Magazine, as well as being the #10 album of the year in their annual readers poll. In 2015, he produced the album One Child Left Behind for the Ed Palermo Big Band, featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock and Frank Zappa's sister Candy Zappa. In 2016, he produced the albums The Great Un-American Songbook, Volumes 1 & 2 for the Ed Palermo Big Band, featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock, which also received a 4-star review from Down Beat Magazine. Volume 3 will be released in 2020. In 2017, he produced the album The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren for the Ed Palermo Big Band, featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock, an album of jazz big band arrangements of Todd Rundgren and Frank Zappa (including McDaniel's arrangement of Zappa's "Big Swifty" and others). Rundgren himself performed with the band at the album release show.
McDaniel was a member of Kasim Sulton's Utopia for their spring 2020 tour, joined by Andy Ascolese on drums and Gil Assayas on keyboards. This tour followed McDaniel's first appearance as a member of Todd Rundgren's band, alongside longtime members Sulton, Greg Hawkes, and Prairie Prince. In spring 2021, McDaniel will be joined by Sulton, Prince, Assayas, Eliot Lewis, Michele Gray Rundgren, Bobby Strickland, Steven Stanley, Mia Jones, and Grace Yoo for Rundgren's Clearly Human virtual tour, performing Rundgren's album Nearly Human in its entirety, along with numerous songs from Rundgren's vast body of work. [1]
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive art. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.
Dweezil Zappa is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Zappa developed a strong affinity for playing the guitar and producing music. Able to learn directly from guitarists such as Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, Zappa released his first single at the age of 12.
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007.
Apostrophe (') is the sixth solo album and eighteenth in total by Frank Zappa, released in March 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was the first of Zappa's three Billboard Top 100 hits, ultimately peaking at number 86. The album itself became the biggest commercial success of Zappa's career, reaching number 10 on the US Billboard 200.
Bongo Fury is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Zappa's band the Mothers, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 are studio tracks recorded in January 1975 during the sessions which produced One Size Fits All (1975) and much of Studio Tan (1978).
Napoleon Murphy Brock is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums Apostrophe ('), Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, and Bongo Fury. He contributed notable vocal performances to the Zappa songs "Village of the Sun," "Cheepnis," and "Florentine Pogen."
Utopia was an American rock band formed in 1973 by Todd Rundgren. During its first three years, the group was a progressive rock band with a somewhat fluid membership known as Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Most of the members in this early incarnation also played on Rundgren's solo albums of the period up to 1975. By 1976, the group was known simply as Utopia and featured a stable quartet of Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell and John "Willie" Wilcox. This version of the group gradually abandoned progressive rock for more straightforward rock and pop.
You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 is a double disc live album by Frank Zappa, spanning from December 10, 1971, to December 23, 1984. It was released in 1989.
Nearly Human is a 1989 album by the rock musician Todd Rundgren, released by Warner Bros. Records. It was his first release in four years, although he had been active as a producer in the intervening years. Many of the album's songs deal with loss, self-doubt, jealousy and spiritual recovery. It was also the first collaboration between Rundgren and Michele Gray, a singer and ex-model who helped to organize the sessions. Gray sang backing vocals, both on the record and on subsequent tours, and the pair later married.
Gregory A. Hawkes is an American musician who is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band the Cars. Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popular music as a member of the Cars.
The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and drummer Prairie Prince. The band performed the Cars' songs, some new material, and selections from Rundgren's career.
Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton hit the Canadian top 40 in 1982 with "Don't Break My Heart".
Adventures in Utopia is the fourth studio album by Utopia.
Ted Kooshian is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has performed with Aretha Franklin, Chuck Berry, Marvin Hamlisch, Edgar Winter, Sarah Brightman, Il Divo, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Kooshian has played in many Broadway pit orchestras, and has been a member of the Ed Palermo Big Band since 1994. Originally from San Jose, California, Kooshian has been performing since the 1980s.
"Peaches en Regalia" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by Frank Zappa. It was initially released on Zappa's album Hot Rats in 1969 and has been recorded many times since.
The Ed Palermo Big Band is a New York City-based ensemble that has been active since the late 1970s, playing the compositions and arrangements of their leader, New Jersey born saxophonist Ed Palermo. The band is best known for Palermo's arrangements of the music of Frank Zappa, but they also perform and record compositions by Todd Rundgren, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, The Rolling Stones, Blodwyn Pig, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and many, many other composers from a wide range of genres.
Gil Assayas is an Israeli composer, keyboardist, producer, and vocalist. Previously, he was the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the band missFlag. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 is a live album by Frank Zappa. Despite the subtitle 'The Helsinki Concert', the album is not one complete concert, but was, in fact, assembled from two different concerts performed in Helsinki in 1974. The working title for this album was The Helsinki Tapes, a title more accurately reflecting the fact that the album was composed of performances from more than one show. It is the only album of the series You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore that includes only one Frank Zappa Band, and only one location of concert. All other albums mix different bands and different time periods in the stage career of Frank Zappa.
Doug Howard is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. He is best known for his work as a performing/recording musician and occasional co-writer with groups, and artists such as Touch, Stun Leer, Todd Rundgren, Utopia and The Edgar Winter Group. He also played the role as the singing narrator "Songster" in the 1987 live production of the Masters of the Universe Power Tour based upon the Mattel He-Man series action figures. Howard is also the managing partner of Lodestar Entertainment, LLC, a music and video licensing, and publishing company based in New York. He is the paternal grandson of American songwriter Joseph E. Howard.
"Advance Romance" is a Frank Zappa song originally from his live album with Captain Beefheart, Bongo Fury. Other versions of the song can be found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 5, and Make a Jazz Noise Here. It is a humorous parody of typical love songs and is sung by Napoleon Murphy Brock with George Duke. The song was played from 1975 to 1976 and from 1982 to 1988 making the song one of Zappa's most performed. Almost all of Zappa's lineups after its release on Bongo Fury played this song in concert.