Root City Band: Alex Rossi, Pat Nelson, Corey Blanchard, Maxaphone, Heatbox, Chris Larson
Dan Ristrom Band: Dan Ristrom, Peter Day Ellidge, Arron Ollswang, Aaron Weiner, Dan Kusz, Corey Blanchard
Dan Kusz Band: Dan Kusz, Russ King/Corey Blanchard, Dan Ristrom, Barry Alexander/Pat Nelson, Deevo/Alex Rossi
Influences
prince, justin timberlake, david sanborn, maceo parker, mike phillips, the roots, common, incubus, the used, jill scott, rod stewart, jonny lang, rolling stones, anthony hamilton, eric clapton, outkast, the meters, soullive, dave koz, david sanborn, eric darius, gerald albright
Named One of the hippest jazz cats in Minneapolis by Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine - Dan is a musician of stylistic diversity. His music displays influences from many Genres of music, although his sound is deeply rooted within the spectrums jazz, r&b, and funk. Among his major influences are David Sanborn, Dave Koz, Euge Groove, Maceo Parker, Everette Harp, Gerald Albright, Ronny Loew, and many more. Dan is an energetic and soulful performer, and began grabbing the attention of listeners early on.
Over the years, Dan has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with a variety of artists and bands including Joe Juliano (James Brown), Renee Austin, Ricky Peterson (David Sanborn, Prince), Big Bamboo, Mateo, T-Bone Thomas, Mojo Buford (Muddy Waters), Moses Oakland, Slide Hampton, Bruce Henry, Dorothy Witherspoon, Chaz Smith (Prince), Jason Weisman, The New Congress, Alicia Wiley, Root City, Dan Ristrom, Desdamona, Alex Rossi, opened for stanley jordan, and many more. He has played in some of the finest clubs in Minnesota such as The Dakota Jazz Club, Rossi's Blue Star Jazz Room, The French Press Jazz Cafe, The Fineline, O'gara's, Bunkers, and also drew a crowd of 3,000 plus @ The Hot Summer Jazz Festival, the Burnsville Art & Jazz Festival, The Grand Marais Jazz Festival, and the Jazz 88.5 Winter Jazz Fest.
Dan's current projects include:
Dan Ristrom & The Big Throwdown
Black Belt Jonezin
The Dan Kusz Band
Root City Band
The Very People
Dan is also working on his new CD on the Steve Mcloone headed record label UltimaSongs which will feature some of the finest Minneapolis Musicians such as: Russ King, Alex Rossi, Orange AC, Dan Ristrom, Barry Alexander, Tony Axtel, Ricky Peterson, Kyle Wood, and many more!
Accomplishments:
Louie Armstrong Jazz Award Winner
2006 L.A. Music Award Winner for: Best Jazz Song & Best Jazz Artist Of The Year
Put out first CD in 2006 called "Lost In The Groove" which was produced by the very talented Ricky Peterson (Has done with with Oleta Adams, David Sanborn, Prince, John Mayer, Stevie Nicks, and a whole 20 pages more of artists!)
Performed on the KARE 11 Morning Show
Was featured in the Italy based Jazz magazine "Acid Jazz"
peaked at 6 on the "Top 40 Smooth Jazz Plays" for MA Radio station WUMD 89.3!
"Lost In The Groove" was in the top 10 chart for the Music Choice Smooth Jazz channel for 5 weeks straight peeking at 3 right behind Dave Koz
Was named one of the hottest acts @ The 2007 Hot Summer Jazz Festival
Waddup MY hooligans!! 2 mixtapes dropping NOVEMBER 5th!!!! and we got lots in store, openin for sean kingston real soon and in 3 weeks openin up for webbie hit a nicca up if you interested ill keep ya updated and also check out the snippets for one o...f the mixtapes called " off the leash Vol 1 " the 2nd jawn " Dhat kidd" snippets will be up in afew days!!! and the 2nd mixtape DHAT KID <img .."visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx
I just wanted to stop by and wish you a happy Sunday! I hope that the weekend brought you fun adventures, relaxation, and contentment :)
I was going to go camping this weekend, but this is definitely NOT camping weather. So me and some friends went to check out Dueling Pianos. Those guys are amazing - they can play just about any song that's been on the radio between 1950 and 2005.
Anyways, I wanted to let you know about a show we have @ Station 4 on Friday, October 16th. We are debuting a series of one time only performance art pieces. This one is called "AN OBJECT TO CRAVE". Live music and visuals based on a short story about life, love, loss, fantasy, obsession and death.
Another group of mine, The Magnetrons, which plays an exciting and innovative Livetronica set (i.e. STS9, Disco Biscuits, The Histronic) will also be playing. The night will be full of creative, interesting, high-energy music, good drinks and good times.
Here's the info:
Blood Root Mother - "An Object to Crave" w/ The Magnetrons & Thought Thieves Friday, October 16th Station 4 201 E 4th St St Paul, MN 55101 9pm / $5 / 18+
KnuckleKnews! We had such a great time plying at Flinstones Lounge we thought we would share some of the music with ya'll. Check out our home page for the jams!
I am glad to announce the release of my debut CD called "Interro Island". This is my first solo project, which includes original tunes composed and arranged by me. I hope you will enjoy my work!!!
Every morning, every night, sometimes in the middle of the day... Escaping into dark, quiet corners to relieve myself Sometimes calmly, sometimes furiously... shamelessly Three times again today, is no surprise Laughing every time... seeing what I'd do to satisfy I want to take you up on all your offers... let you try Fulfill all the scintillating needs inside Heavenly wings and spitfire tongues taste like lullabies!
I just wanted to stop by to say hello and give you a little update on what Blood Root Mother is up to! We will be recording an EP of new music in August, and we recently finished recording a live DVD. The DVD is currently unreleased and I actually just saw it for the first time a few days ago. It features the last two performances with Tony Ellis still alive, and some footage from the tribute show we played on the night of his funeral.
There are some cool covers, as well as some NEW music that will be on our upcoming EP. We're very excited about the new music and we'd like to share a sneak peak with you. Here's a video of a new tune called Run Bobby Run:
Blood Root Mother will be playing at Trocaderos in Minneapolis on Friday, June 26th. I cannot stress enough how awesome this show will be!! We're playing with three of the sweetest local rock bands: Claret, Niobium and Casanatra. If you haven't heard these guys, check them out immediately! Please come to this show!!
I recommend stopping by during happy hour for two for one drinks along with free buffet, which is delicious. We'll be hanging out at Trocs all night, so come by and chill/party with us :)
Again, here's the event info:
Friday, June 26th Trocaderos 107 3rd Ave N Minneapolis, MN 18+ // $6 // 8pm
Please come out and support some great local music!! Music starts at 9:30pm, we should go on around midnight. Invite your friends, pile into a car (or a party bus), and together we will make this one of the highlights of the summer :)
What it do! Do you plan on coming out Wednesday for "Raising the Bar" at Arnellia's (1183 University Ave. St. Paul)? Hit me back ASAP! This week's featured artist is Shayde. As always, Mario Dawson, Nik Nyc, and Best Kept Secret (BKS) will be in full effect! Plus Live Music/Open Mic/Drink Specials!
