Celebrating the Arts - Dwight-Englewood School

STUDENTSTANDOUTS&FACULTYENDEAVORS
Dwight-Englewood School
30
Daryl Johns ’14
Acoustic bass player Daryl
Johns ’14 enjoys performing
with D-E’s jazz rock ensemble
and stage band. This past February,
however, Daryl played a few somewhat
higher profile gigs—namely, events
associated with the 2011 Grammy
Awards in Los Angeles.
Selected by national audition for the
High School Grammy Jazz Band, Daryl
played at a tribute event honoring Barbra
Streisand as the MusiCares Person of
the Year, and at a Grammy Awards
ceremony after-party. Daryl and his
fellow musicians even attended the
53rd Annual Grammy Awards as guests
of The Recording Academy—with a walk
up the red carpet. While in LA, the high
schoolers also had a recording session
at the legendary Capitol Studios in
Hollywood.
“It was great to spend 10 days with so
many talented young musicians who
share the same passion for this great
music,” notes Daryl, adding, “Someday I
hope to walk that red carpet on Grammy
night again to get my own Grammy.”
It would be no surprise if he did. Daryl is
no stranger to national and international
recognition for his jazz prowess. He was
a semi-finalist in the 2009 Thelonious
Monk International Bass Competition
and received an honorable mention
nod and this endorsement from Monk
himself: “Daryl represents everything
this music is about, his respect for the
history belies his youth.” Last year Daryl
received “Best Soloist” and “Best
Original Song” honors in Downbeat
magazine’s 33rd Annual Student
Music Awards.
Daryl’s connection to jazz might be
considered hereditary. His mother is
Debbie Keefe, a musician who teaches
saxophone, flute, and other reed
instruments at Dwight-Englewood. His
father is critically acclaimed drummer
and composer Steve Johns, with whom
Daryl has played and recorded. “My
parents are both jazz musicians so I grew
up with it,” says Daryl.” I have met and
played with some of the greatest jazz
musicians in the world, and I am always
impressed with all the great stories they
tell on and off the bandstand.”
Jazz bassist Daryl Johns ’14, back on the D-E campus after performing with the High School
Grammy Jazz Band in Los Angeles.
Daryl has already recorded his first CD
with his own jazz trio at the Bennett
Studio in his hometown of Englewood,
and is currently doing recording projects
at the hallowed studios founded by
Rudy Van Gelder, who has been
called the greatest recording engineer
in jazz history.
Daryl has patiently and passionately
honed his craft by playing in the awardwinning
Manhattan School of Music
Pre-College Big Band and Improv
Ensemble and attending New Jersey
Performing Arts Center’s Jazz for Teens
program, through which he has
performed with such jazz greats as Les
Paul, Randy Brecker, Jimmy Owens, and
Dave Liebman.
Daryl calls jazz “America’s classical
music,” and loves the role his instrument
plays in an ensemble. “I love playing jazz
bass because it provides the foundation
for the rest of the band,” he says, noting,
“I don’t think I picked the bass, I think
the bass picked me.”
To learn more about Daryl visit his
website at: Daryljohns.com.