DANJO

Dan Angotti, the original bassist and founder of the Danjo Jazz Orchestra, was inspired to put together a big band when he returned home to Kent, Ohio in 2010 after a long career of playing live music in Los Angeles. Originally, the idea for the band was just to have fun; to be a rehearsal band. Ever since Danjo's first rehearsal on May 4th, 2010, the band steadily grew as a local favorite, attracting attention from Northeast Ohio's best musicians. Dan's inspiration for founding Danjo traces back to his time as a student at Kent State University.

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While he was studying music at KSU, Dan played bass in the jazz department's "B" big band under the direction of jazz pianist Bill Dobbins, who was a graduate student at the time. The top band, known as the "A" band, had a monthly residency at "Eddie's Stag Bar" - now a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. This early experience gave Dan the idea of a recurring gig. He was also fortunate enough to see the bands of Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, and Stan Kenton live at Idora Park in Youngstown, OH. 

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Dan moved out to the west coast to pursue a career as a professional musician in Los Angeles. While living there, he began collecting big band charts, and also acquired an additional electronic library of charts from a cruise ship gig. Thus, the Danjo book was starting to form. When he decided to remove himself from the L.A. scene and move back home, he began calling friends he knew in the area from school to start up the band now known as Danjo. Among the first band members were guitarist Mike Delaney, pianist Stewart Freedman, and drummer Roy King. After getting together enough horn players, Dan ran the first Danjo rehearsal with only 10 charts on May 4th, 2010 at "The Bat Cave" in downtown Kent. 

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From there, Dan took the band to the Ohio Music Shop, Water Street Tavern, and The Venice Cafe - all in downtown Kent. The band became a household name in the city and played every Tuesday at one of these venues. Eventually Dan got the band involved in other local festivals, community events, and live music venues, such as Jilly's Music Room. He continued to lead the band for nine years and expanded the library to over 150 charts. Dan also made a conscious effort to always give local college students the chance to play in the band. 

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In June of 2019, Dan officially announced his retirement from leading Danjo, and handed the band down to trombonist, composer, and arranger Andrew Wegierski, who had been playing with the band for two years, started as just a sub, and eventually ended up in the bass trombone chair, as that's what Dan needed at the time.  Since July of 2019, Andrew has led Danjo from either the trombone section or up front as the conductor.

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