Dan Moretti

Composer/Producer/Educator/Saxophonist-Professor Dan Moretti has performed throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific Rim, and Russia. His musical influences and compositions range from straight-jazz and soul-jazz to funk, Latin-jazz, and classical music. Over the last 30 years, he has played with a variety of artists across the musical spectrum. A short list includes Nile Rodgers, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cornell Dupree, Jerry Jemmott, The Temptations, Mike Stern, Omar Hakim, Jimmy Cobb, Dave Samuels, Dave Liebman, Marvin Stamm, Nat Adderly, The Crusaders, and Dr. John.

Dan’s early recording career, which started in the late ’80s, placed him in the funk-fusion world with his 1st international release on the Black Hawk label Sometime Inside. Then teaming up with notables like Dave Samuels (vibes), Mike Stern, and Steve Kahn (guitar), Pugie Bell (drums), and Mark Egan (bass), he continued with Point of Entry and Waiting for the Call on Par Records. Moving into the Latin-Jazz world in the ’90s and 2000’s he has recordings with GRAMMY-winning artists Oscar Stagnaro (bass) and Mark Walker (drums), including legendary NEA Jazz Master saxophonist Dave Liebman on Latin Genesis. In the mid-2000’s he traveled to Italy to discover his roots and co-write and produce a 13-piece Italian ethnic orchestra on an album called The Journey, combining jazz and Italian roots music on the Dodicilune Label. During the mid-2000’s he continued to record American releases with a series of Once Through recordings, an eclectic series of 3 albums with predominately original compositions. In 2009, his album Tres Muse featured a set of originals in a trio setting, and in 2014, Moretti released his chart-topping album Hammond Boys, a soul-jazz tribute, which spent over 20 weeks on the American jazz charts. In 2018, an all-original acoustic jazz quartet combined with string quartet brought forth his album Invoke on the Dodicilune label. His current 2021 release Tres Libre is receiving critical acclaim and has been on the RMR and NACC jazz charts for 2 months.  For full biography and discography visit https://danmoretti.com.

Dan has been on the faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston since 1996 and currently is holding a full time position as Professor in the CWP (Contemporary Writing and Production) department.  He was given the school’s “Curriculum Development Award” in 2006 for his popular on-campus course “Groove Writing.”  He has also been at the forefront of distance learning at Berklee where in 2003 he created the Berklee Online (Berklee’s distance-learning school) version of his course called Arranging Contemporary Styles and has been teaching this course to students all over the world.  In 2012 he converted this same course back to Berklee with one of the first on-line on-campus courses.  In 2008, his book Producing and Mixing Contemporary Jazz was released on Hal Leonard-Berklee Press. 

Discography as a leader or co-leader *

• Dan Moretti Tres Libre Rootsgrooves 2021
• The Sonic Surfers Dan Moretti & Steve DeConti Rootsgrooves 2020
• Dan Moretti “Invoke” Jazz Quartet and Strings Dodicilune 2018
• Dan Moretti & The Hammond Boys, Roots Grooves Records (2014)
• Dan Moretti and The Piccola Orchestra La Viola, Dodicilune (2011) *
• Tres Muse, Foundations Jazz (2010)
• Foundations, Foundations Jazz (2009)
• Passing Place, Whaling City (2005)
• Stories, Whaling City (2003)
• Latin-Genesis, Whaling City 2002 *
• The Psychic Horns, Whaling City 2001 *
• Once Through, Whaling City 2000
• That’s Right, 1201 Music 1999
• Impressions, D.A. Music 1996
• Dan Moretti & Brazilia, Live at Chan’s, D.A. Music 1995
• December Solstice, D.A. Music 1995
• Psychic Horns, CD Rom Q-Up Arts 1995 *
• Saxual, Par Records 1994
• Back to the Groove, Wayne Henderson Par Records 1992
• Point of Entry, Par Records 1991
• Sometime Inside, Black Hawk Records 1987