D-Lucca
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D-Lucca

Walnut Creek, California, United States | INDIE | AFM

Walnut Creek, California, United States | INDIE | AFM
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"D-Lucca, Pressing Forward. Shades of Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson"

D-Lucca, Pressing Forward. Shades

of Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson, albeit

less showy, surface on this instrumental

New Age jazz album. Solos also go to

sax and bass, but the real star is

Walnut Creek resident D-Lucca's guitar.

His tone is clear and bright, though not

devoid of bottom end, and his playing

confident and workmanlike. Unlike

many skilled guitarists, he serves the

song before his vanity.

(D-Lucca Entertainment)

By Nate Seltenrich - East Bay Express


"Home Grown"

Bay Area bassist Daniel Lucca Parenti’s biggest gig was touring behind jazz and pop vocal legend Rosemary Clooney for several recent years. His solo material, however, reveals an artist whose personal ambitions extend to modern, electronica-influenced sounds. Aptly handling a variety of basses, including melody-manning piccolo, Parenti’s material is alternately laid-back and fused-out modern jazz. Great playing.

By Jonathan Herrera | September 2006 - Bass Player Magazine


"CD Reviews: D-Lucca - “Cruise Control” - CD-2007 Independent"

It’s easy to discern why the bassist known as D-Lucca is a first call, San Francisco Bay Area session ace. Now performing with keyboardist Terry Disley of Acoustic Alchemy notoriety, the artist has supported the late diva Rosemary Clooney and stints with various orchestras. But this electronics-hued album defines the artist’s strong compositional acumen to complement his solid chops and inventive e-bass frameworks.


He crosses that opaque border by churning out a blend of hardcore jazz-fusion with melodically attractive hooks. In addition, D-Lucca uses variable EFX techniques for texture and gusto during many of these pieces. Not sappy or over-baked, the album is largely built on pumping beats amid select tracks featuring Disley’s clustering electric piano chord progressions and breezy synth lines. D-Lucca’s bass arsenal is impressive here. And he shows a romantic side on the wistful piece titled “Baby.” Then with “Light Year,” he goes head-to-head with lead guitarist Lom Leber, where the musicians soar skyward via stinging choruses and a climactic finale.

Saxophonist Daniel Zim imparts a laid-back groove on “Light at the End of the Tunnel,” as D-Lucca consummates the festivities with a walking-bass pattern throughout the composition titled “R U Home Yet.” In a nutshell this album signifies an unanticipated musical highlight for 2007. Most importantly, D-Lucca shines as a formidable composer here. – Glenn Astarita
- ejazznews.com


"Featured Artist: D-Lucca CD Title: The Next Level Year: 2008 Record Label: Innervision Records"

From the opening notes of The Next Level, bassist D-Lucca frames this as a San Francisco treat, as you can hear the trademark nuances that so often mark music from that region. This starts off with the promise that it will be a very pleasant aural journey. It delivers on that promise throughout.
D-Lucca has played with quite the impressive and diverse list of who’s who in the business, including the late, great vibraphonist/percussionist Lionel Hampton, drummer Peter Erkskine, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the late saxman Michael Brecker, as well as Rosemary Clooney, Debbie Boone, and Tony Tennille. The influence of that experience comes across immediately here. D-Lucca is also currently touring with keyboardist Terry Disley of Acoustic Alchemy fame.
The material on this album is at once refreshingly original, smooth, cool, and well-written. His and his band’s masterful technique and playing don’t hurt, either! There’s substance, feel, and a genuine sense that all’s right with the world in listening to this abundantly charming project. Tunes like the opening and title track, as well as “Keepin’ the Fire Lit” and “Blues Driver,” clearly show that D-Lucca tried very hard not to leave many stones unturned in cranking out the creativity. Of course, I singled out those tunes only because they are among my favorites. They are not the sole tunes of note, mind you. This album is worthy of a complete listen, lest you miss something truly inspiring. Everything fits here---from the jazzy chords of guitarist Lorn Leber to the driving drums of several different contributors in this area. D-Lucca’s various basses add, as usual, several different dimensions to it all. Truly impressive work, and congrats are definitely in order.

Reviewed by: Ronald Jackson - jazzreview.com


"CD Title: Cruise Control Year: 2006 Record Label: D-Lucca Entertainment"

Veteran bass guitarist Daniel Lucca’s album Cruise Control is one of the best jazz fusion albums you will ever pick up. Lucca has fused jazz and rock so beautifully that you don’t know when one ends and the other begins. The elements are so entwined that they beat with one heart brandishing the regalia of Steely Dan. Lucca’s music is not rushed, but gingerly plotted with brandy savoring grooves, azure-esque textures beaming with laminated luster, and chords with gorgeous definition, clarity, and warmth. His music has a fire-side/smooth jazz rustle with ambient arcs and trestles coordinated by expert fingers.
Lucca composed and arranged all of the songs as well as bearing the brunt of executive producer. With assistant producers Boone Spencer and Wandah C. Mitchell and collaborator Terry Disley from Acoustic Alchemy on keyboards and synths, Daniel Lucca’s album Cruise Control should be earmarked by his peers as a professional level to be attained and by music fans who are looking for music that courses through their veins like a soothing broth on rankled nerves and uptight emotions.
The album opens with an upbeat jazz fusion dialogue stylized with 70s jazz-funk surges on the title track and “That Funky Bass,” which exhibits smooth jazz saxophones interacting in a lively banter with the bass. The supple tones and caressing movements on tracks like “Everlasting” and “Erowan” project a score of meaningful melodic phrases connecting to emotions and bearing traits similarly to Trey Anastasio. These reflective pieces display gentle playing and responsive exchanges in the instrumentation.
The graphic chord vibrations on tracks like “Baby” and “Light Year” are expressive and organic relatable to a Spyro Gyra fashion. The music for “Zen Of Zinn” is very fertile sprouting stalks of saxophone lines and rhythmic percussive shakers producing an ambient jazz effect. The spoken words of Mitchell and Erhabor on “Distance From Live To Love” give the track a hip hop pulsation when they recite: “We open our eyes to the ultimate surprise/ That we are not yet who we will someday be/ Our minds and hearts are like new and waiting for you/ To show us the way to LOVE.”
The words and music have themes of healing and penetrating a succor resolution. The melodies “’06” and “Light At The End Of The Tunnel” are aurally smooth and tenderly vacillating. The smooth jazz saxophone on “Expresso” and percolating synths are sweetly versed as they wrap around each other and the listener in its homey cove. The lightly rosin guitars play in harmony to the boinging synths and steady shakers. The music chords prance gracefully on “Your Smile” as the saxophone chimes produce rings of vivid roseates. Tracks like “Lucca’s Love” and “Experience (Live)” move to a fire-side/lounging jazz tempo while the final track “R. U. Home Yet” basks in country flanged guitar pluckings and light toe tapping beats with a blues-folk texturing whistles through the rhythmic steps.
Daniel Lucca has been in the music business since he was 19 years old when he began recording with such artists as Matt Catingua, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, The Big Kahuna And The Copa Cat Pack, Maureen McGovern, Debbie Boone, Tony Tennille, Peter Erskine and many others. He obviously picked up a few things about making exquisite melodies because he does them with the precision of the fingers of a Waterford Crystal’s craftsman. The chord progressions are so finely quilted that you never see the seams. All the elements work together without a note out of place.

Reviewed by: Susan Frances - jazzreview.com


"D-LUCCA Cruise Control D-Lucca Entertainment"

At age 12 people were noticing Daniel Lucca Parenti (D-Lucca). His high school music teacher was so impressed with his ability to read music he gave him a bass guitar and told him that if he could learn to play it over the summer he would invite him to be in the jazz band. And so he did… the following years were filled with hard work, lessons and hours of practice. By 17 he had become an accomplished jazz, swing and rock bassist and continued his scholastic performance in college. At 19 he was chosen to be the bassist for Matt Catingub’s Copa Cat Pack Band with Concord Jazz Records. He has played with Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein (with both for four years), he has toured extensively playing jazz festivals all over the world, and recorded four CDs with Concord (two were Grammy-Nominees). This accomplished musician has also managed to complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and Composition. Today, D-Lucca is one of the top call bassists in San Francisco and is currently touring with keyboardist Terry Disley (Acoustic Alchemy). CRUISE CONTROL is his 2nd solo release to date; it’s filled with intriguing musical textures and introspective melodies and infused with cool and modern jazz sensibilities, as well as electronica influences. Adeptly featuring a variety of basses including 4 string piccolo and 5 string fretless, CRUISE CONTROL showcases this jazz impresario as deep and innovative with songs like “Distance From Life To Love,” “Cruise Control,” and “06” standing out for us. ~SANDY SHORE - SmoothJazz.com


"D-LUCCA Have Yourself A Fretless Little Christmas Innervision Records"

The unmistakable sound of the fretless bass is complex and rich and everything that is deep and meaningful in music. D-Lucca knows this instinctively and has become a master of reaching all new melodic highs (and lows) on his instrumental work. HAVE YOURSELF A FRETLESS LITTLE CHRISTMAS is such a special holiday release that we will be playing nearly half of the tracks from it on SmoothJazz.com and SmoothLounge.com Radio this holiday season. The two-time Grammy-nominee bassist for Rosemary Clooney (he also played with Michael Feinstein) has put his heart into the holidays with this seasonal release. I so love the hip, swagger on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,”and the chill-out, late night vibe on “We Three Kings,”while the smooth and jazzy “Silver Bells" makes me want to whip out my Macy’s card (it’s that festive) right now. D-Lucca’s spin on “Drummer Boy” is swampy-thick and the resonating harmonics are lush. I guarantee that you’ve never heard “The Christmas Song” like the one on HAVE YOURSELF A FRETLESS LITTLE CHRISTMAS… some sort of hyper-disco, dance trance version, like maybe the Espresso machine was actually in the recording studio… super fun! And perhaps the sweetest tune on here is the album’s namesake, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” featuring D-Lucca’s melodious playing alongside Terry Disley’s delicious piano. Ahhhh yes, soon it will be Christmas Day and we’ll be fretless all the way! ~SANDY SHORE - SmoothJazz.com


Discography

Rosemary Clooney, "Sentimental Journey," Concord Jazz Records 2001

Rosemary Clooney, "The Last Concert, "Concord Jazz Records 2002

Rosie O'Donnell, "A Rosie Christmas," Sony Music Entertainment with Columbia Records 1999.

Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack, "Hawaiian Swing," Concord Jazz Records 1999.

Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack, "Shake Thos Hula Hips," Concord Jazz Records 2001.

Pressing Forward, Fourth Solo Album, D-Lucca Entertainment 2009.

The All For You Project, First Solo Album, D-Lucca Entertainment 2005.

Cruise Control, Second Solo Album, D-Lucca Entertainment 2006.

The Next Level, Third Solo Album, Innervision Records, 2007

Have Yourself a Fretless Little Christmas, solo Christmas album, Innervision Records, 2007.

Mike Vax and Friends of Big Band Swing, 2001.

California State University Jazz Ensemble, "Metro," Independent 1998-99.

California State University Jazz Ensemble, "Excursions," Independent 2002.

The Catholic Community of Pleasanton Music Ministry, "Songs of Christmas," Independent 2003.

Dynamic, "Photosynthesis," Independent 2003.

Dank Man Shank, "You Turn Me On," Independent 2002.

Boone Spooner, “10 Songs,” Independent 2003.

Terry Disley, “Experience Christmas,” Independent 2004.

Terry Disley, “Across the Pond,” Independent 2006.

Roy McNeal, “Organik,” Independent 2005

Ed McClary, "The Greatest Christmas Album Evern Made," Independent 2004

Christopher Hedge, "The New Heroes," Triloka/Artemis Records 2005

Chi McClean, "Something Out There," Independent 2009

Ben Flint, “World Soul Project,” Independent 2006

TV Performances

Rosie O Donnell Show, ABC

A&E Biography, Rosemary Clooney, A&E

Rosie O Donnell's Christmas Special, ABC

The View, ABC

Swing It, PBS special on big band swing

1st Cut FOX

D-Lucca has performed with:

Rosemary Clooney

Michael Feinstein

Michael Brecker (Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorious)

John Oddo (Arranger for Rosemary Clooney)

Maureen McGovern

Debbie Boone (Pat Boone)

Jimmy Darren

Will Kennedy (Yellowjackets)

Joel Smith (Walter Hawkins, Jerry Garcia Band)

Tony Tennille (The Captain and Tennile)

Anne Hampton Calloway

Lionel Hampton

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Lee Musiker (Buddy Rich)

Peter Erskine (Yellow Jackets, Steely Dan)

John Stowell

Conrad Herwig (Eddie Palmieri)

George Bohannon

Frank Mercurio (Cal Jader)

Tom Harrell

Terence Disley (Acoustic Alchemy, Paul McCartney)

Vivian Jett

James Moody

Maria Schneider

Rene Escovedo

Joe Hebert (California Symphony Orchestra)

Lorn Leber (Jerry Garcia Band)

Mark Russo (Doobie Brothers, Yellow Jackets)

Billy Johnson (Santana)

Ira Stein (Windham Hill Recording Artist)

Ben Flint (Isaac Hayes)

Rob Fisher (Cal Jader)

Jimmy Dobson (Celine Dion)

Kime (Sony Norwegian Pop Artist)

Louie Bellson

Tommy Bradford (The Braxton Brothers)

Frank Martin

Bill Spooner (The Tubes)

John Ethridge (Django)

Chi

Jovan Watkins

Dave Hollister (Black Street)

Photos

Bio


D-Lucca

Piccolo Bass? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Not when you’re talking about D-Lucca, who is among a mere handful of people who can pull it off. As with Stanley Clarke and the late Wayman Tisdale, D-Lucca can count himself as one of the few artists able to bring the piccolo bass into a well-warranted limelight. Daniel Lucca Parenti,shortened to D-Lucca, is a San Francisco Bay Area native who has performed with many jazz legends, including Rosemary Clooney, Michael Brecker, and Lionel Hampton. Bass Player Magazine said of D-Lucca, “Aptly handling a variety of basses, including melody-manning piccolo, [D-Lucca’s] material is alternately laid-back and fused-out modern jazz.” Though D-Lucca may not follow the jazz-fusion lead of Clarke or the smooth jazz of recent sensation Tisdale, he has definitely found his niche within the newest wave of modern jazz. “D-Lucca has fused jazz and rock so beautifully that you don’t know when one ends and the other begins,” wrote Susan Frances from JazzReview.com.

Musically, people had been taking notice of Daniel since the age of 12 when a junior high school music teacher, impressed with his ability to read music, handed him a bass and said, “If you can learn to play this over the summer you can be my bass player in the jazz band.” And so he did. Over the next few years, a lot of hard work, lessons, and hours of practice kept him advancing through school music programs.

Inspired by amazing teachers and legendary artists like Rush and Michael Manring, Daniel began to focus his talents and by age 17, had become an accomplished jazz and rock bassist. After high school he attended Cal State University at Hayward and was selected as a freshman to play with Dave Eshelmann’s top Jazz Ensemble. With the CSUH Jazz Ensemble, Daniel had the pleasure of touring all over California and parts of Nevada, as well as a tour of Southern Brazil. By this time Daniel had discovered the amazing music of such artists as Jaco Pastorious, Weather Report, Dave Holland, and Squarepusher which inspired him to begin to write and perform his own music. At age 19 he’d been tabbed to be the bassist for Matt Catingub’s “Copa Cat Pack Band,” with Concord Jazz Records. Daniel would go on to tour with several popular jazz artists, including, Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein, as Bassist for The Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack. With Rosemary and Michael, over a four year period, Daniel made several appearances on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” and “The View,” toured all over the continental U.S., Hawaii, Germany, and Canada, and performed at many popular Jazz Festivals, including, 2000 Stuttgart Jazz Open, 2000-1 Westbury Jazz Festivals, NY, 2001 Maysville Jazz Festival, KY, and also 2000-1 Human Rights Campaign, DC. With Big Kahuna, Daniel performed and recorded with the reputable Honolulu Pops Orchestra; and recorded four full length CD's with Concord Jazz Records, two of which were Grammy Nominated. And, he still managed to help pay his college tuition and complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and Composition at the same time.

Daniel has become one of the top call bassists in the San Francisco Bay Area performing with many well known Bay Area artists such as, Billy Johnson (Santana), Frank Martin (Narda Michael Walden), Joel Smith (Walter Hawkins), and Lorn Leber (Gerry Garcia Band) just to name a few. Recently, touring with Terry Disley from Acoustic Alchemy, Daniel has performed at the Jazz Trax Smooth Jazz Festival at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe and the Jazz Trax Smooth Jazz Festival at Catalina Island in 2004. Daniel is also featured on Terry Disley's album entitled, "Across the Pond." Terry Disley said about Daniel, “I was much taken aback when I first heard this young man play the bass. He is my very first recommendation. I appreciate his overall musicianship, his skill on all the basses both on acoustic upright and electric instruments, and his constant reliability and professionalism. He shows maturity beyond his years and his playing shows his deep knowledge and understanding of the history and source of his art. This combined with his passion for music and a desire to be the best at his craft, make him irreplaceable.”

In 2003 Daniel decided that it was time to pursue his own ambitions and showcase his own music. Daniel has always been a writer and arranger. Even since the start when he was learning the piano, was writing music and putting together collections of original songs. All through his school career compiled a book of original jazz compositions that number in the hundreds. Now as D-Lucca, he has released five full length original albums of his own "The All For You Project," "Cruise Control," "The Next Level," and “Pressing Forward,” as well as masterful Christmas Album, "Have Yourself a Fretless Little Christmas." His solo career is now coming to life having performed at the world renown Yoshi’s Jazz Club and many Bay Area music festivals