Dan Pinto

Dan Pinto
Dan Pinto at the Minimoog and Yamaha CP-80 Piano
Background information
Born	(1960-12-08) December 8, 1960 Newark, New Jersey
Origin	New Jersey
Genres	Jazz-fusion, progressive rock New Age
Occupation(s)	Composer, pianist, keyboardist, drummer, percussionist, producer, sound engineer
Years active	1974–present
Labels	Eclectic Sound
Website	www.danpintomusic.com

Dan Pinto is a BMI composer/keyboardist/drummer-percussionist who writes and performs music in the styles of Jazz-Fusion and orchestral Film score and Soundtrack. Beginning in 1991, his original music compositions were used for many Robin Leach hosted television shows that ran in syndication for several years including Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Runaway with the Rich & Famous. His music was also used for the 1993 syndicated television show, World’s Best 1992.^[1]

Beginnings

Dan Pinto began his career in 1974 as a Rock & Roll drummer^[2] and shortly afterward branched out to various forms of percussion and keyboards. Prior to his success as a composer, while continuing with the preestablished need to keep up on many forms of drums and percussion, he began to branch out by first developing his skill at the piano. A self-educated musician on all the instruments that he plays, Dan Pinto would learn while borrowing between full size pianos of one kind or another until he was able to afford his own.^[3] He then quickly moved into many types of electronic keyboards. Dedicating equal time toward both instrument groups, it wasn’t long before he was performing as a multi-keyboardist and drummer-percussionist both live and in the studio on a regular basis. It would be difficult to view Dan Pinto’s involvement on any one instrument without eventually including the other. It is plain to see that he has been very active using varying combinations of both instruments hand in hand throughout his entire career thus having molded him into becoming a genuine multi-instrumentalist.

Music style and composition

Initially establishing his music style stemming from keyboard Progressive rock bands of the early 1970s, his later studies of creating an orchestral sound would play an even more important role in his development as a music writer. So too would his deeply rooted interest in movies having attempted creations of his own at a very young age with his father’s 8mm camera long before he became involved with composing music.^[4] With this foundation, Dan Pinto would move forward alternating between composing music for orchestra with a film soundtrack style and releasing solo projects in the realm of Progressive Rock and Jazz fusion. Dan Pinto’s music has been the backdrop over the years for industrial and commercial projects for AT&T, CNN, BMW and RCA.^[5] In 2006 Dan was nominated for Best "Instrumental Song of the Year" in the Just Plain Folks Music Awards^[6] for music from his "Ivory Towers" CD release recognizing his accomplishments as a New Age music composer. With his 2008 release of "Anomalies" he seamlessly combines Progressive Jazz-rock fusion with Film score music redeveloping his style yet again into what has become a multi-tiered methodology.^[7]

Live and studio performance

Four years after he began composing original music, Dan Pinto would debut his efforts in 1981 as the keyboardist/drummer-percussionist for the original progressive rock band, “Juice” when they opened for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, broadcast live on WDHA. And with this performance as was with most early on in his career, although keyboards had become the most crucial element that forged Dan Pinto’s creative output, his origin still remained an integral part of his makeup which usually included a highlighted drum duet with the band’s regular drummer.^[8] As a drummer-percussionist, aside from performing all of the work on his own CD releases, he played on an album release by 3 Point Play^[9] featuring Dave LaRue, bassist for the Dixie Dregs & the Steve Morse Band. He was the keyboardist with WainWave Music record label recording artist, Doug Wain resulting in a live CD release that was recorded at the Ritz in New York in 1988.^[10] Dan has also performed live on stage with members of MCA recording artist, Trixter.^[5]

Equipment

As a full blooded multi-instrumentalist, Dan Pinto's use of equipment covers ground in two main areas. As a drummer^[2] he uses mostly Pearl drums with a combination of Zildjian, Paiste and Sabian Cymbals. He also incorporates a wide variety of percussion including Ludwig-Musser orchestra bells and temple blocks, Slingerland timbales and Paiste Gongs. Electronics play an important role with his use of drums in conjunction with keyboard sound modules. As a keyboardist, since Dan Pinto's first electronic keyboard purchase, that being a Moog Music Minimoog synthesizer, he has since evolved through a series of Moogs including a Ribbon controller and electronic drum synthesizers. He’s used Oberheim and Roland Corporation synths and a variety of Korg keyboards before settling in on Kurzweil Music Systems. He has also owned an impressive array of varying types of electric pianos including Yamaha’s CP-80 and Roland’s RD-1000.^[5]

Beyond the music

Beyond working as a composer/musician, Dan Pinto has many other attributes. He produces and engineers all of the music that he writes in a privately owned recording studio that facilitates his needs exclusively.^[11][12] And in a 2009 live interview on Blogtalkradio, he explained about how back in 1994 he dedicated several years of work into writing a screenplay, producing, directing and editing a movie^[13] for the sole purpose of writing the film score.^[14] While Dan went on to say that the film itself was an independent unofficial release, the music was in fact officially released on CD with Eclectic Sound Records in 1999.^[6] This, what might be construed as such an unusual endeavor by a musician should be noted for its shear magnitude both technically and physically, especially when you take into consideration by his own confession that Dan Pinto is not a Film-maker.^[14] Dan every so often gets involved with side projects. Such was the case when he and Horace Ott, primary composer for "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood",^[15] joined up to make a presentation on scoring music for films at the Memfest Film Festival in New Jersey in 2006.^[5]

Musical influences

While Dan Pinto credits his musical influences to many individual artists, Keith Emerson is one in particular that is known to have had more of an impact than most.^[16] His music has also been interestingly compared to a variety of different Music group sounds including what has been quoted as being a more original sounding version of Kansas^[11] as well as a style similar to that of Return to Forever but with an arguably more accessible sound.^[17] Some other known artist influences would include John Williams, Danny Elfman, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Michel Camilo, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lyle Mays, Yes and Genesis^[18]

Discography

Music for film

• Runaway with the Rich and Famous (1991), (1992), (1993), (1994)
• Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (1992), (1993), (1994)
• Worlds Best (1992)
• Die For a Life (1999)

Solo releases

• Blue of the Flame (1992)
• Jazz on the Rocks (1992)
• Ivory Towers (1992)
• Visions (2000)
• Happy Holidaze Christmas Album (2000)
• Anomalies (2008)

With other artists

• Doug Wain “Live at the Ritz”(Keyboards) (1988)
• 3 Point Play “Double OT”(Drums) (2001)

References

External links

• Dan Pinto official website
• "Die for a Life" movie project
• Dan Pinto interview
• Dan Pinto discography at Discogs