Dan Moore, professor of music and director of the percussion program at the University of Iowa, is an internationally known performer, composer, and educator. Highly regarded as a marimba and vibraphone artist, he performs as a soloist throughout the United States and has also appeared in Japan, China, and Argentina.
In 2006, Moore and Bulgarian percussionist Daniella Ganeva toured as the mallet percussion duo Dan & Daniella. Since 1985 he has performed regularly with Nashville steel drummer Mat Britain. Taking the lead from mentors Dave Samuels and Andy Narell, they formed the first regularly touring duo to feature marimba and steel pans. Their eclectic mix of percussion can be heard on the Britain/Moore Duo’s Little World of Rhythm, described in a review as having “a musical spirit that lifts the soul.”
Known for his expertise in combining electronic and acoustic elements into his percussion performances, Dr. Moore developed a distinctive performance style, playing bass lines and harmonies while improvising and playing melodies simultaneously. His solo CD Now, Here, This, is a collection of original compositions and treatments of standard and non-standard tunes. His current CD project, Misfit Toys, is a collaborative effort with leading edge NYC drummer Matt Wilson, composer and banjo player Paul Elwood, and the late composer, writer, thinker, and wizard of the clarinet Robert Paredes.
In 1995, Moore's fondness for vintage percussion ensembles led him to Dick Schory, the man who brought percussion ensembles to the masses during the 1960s and 70s with his enormously popular Percussion Pops Orchestra. Schory granted Moore numerous interviews and access to his extensive personal archives to complete his 2000 doctoral thesis “The Impact of Richard L. 'Dick' Schory on the Development of the Contemporary Percussion Ensemble,” and Jungle Fever: Dan Moore plays the music of Dick Schory (Ovation, 1999), which features Moore’s arrangements of some of Schory’s Percussion Pops favorites. A reviewer wrote: “Credit Dan Moore for successfully accomplishing the Herculean tasks associated with a project of this nature, for his outstanding contributions as a performer throughout the disc, and most of all, for bringing this unique music back from the past.”
A native Texan, born and raised in Longview, Moore was honored in 2005 as a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas A&M University - Commerce, where he studied percussion with Robert Houston. He earned the master’s of music education from Wichita State University, where he studied with J.C. Combs; and the doctor of musical arts degree from The University of Kentucky, where he studied with James B. Campbell and Ellington scholar Richard Domek.
Dan Moore is a national performing artist for the Yamaha Corporation of America, a signature mallet artist for Innovative Percussion, and an educational board member for the Latin Percussion Music Group (LP). He is an artist for Sabian cymbals and a member of the Zendrum 21st Century Techno-Tribe. Innovative Percussion, Creative Music, and Cricket City Music publish his compositions and arrangements. He is chair of the Percussive Arts Society Percussion Ensemble Committee and in 2005 was elected to the PAS Board of Directors. He hosts a weekly jazz and world music radio program, “As Night Falls,” on KSUI.
