I was fortunate enough to attend the New York city debut and CD release party of singer/songwriter Danny Ross earlier this summer. The Dix Hills-native released his five song EP “Introducing Danny Ross” earlier this year but hadn’t had an official unveiling or coronation to the general public. The disc, full of Long Island session musicians, was recorded before Ross moved to New York City’s SoHo area.
The release party took place at New York City’s famed Bitter End (not a bad place to make a debut!), and for all the times I have been there, I can’t ever recall it being this packed. Though much of the crowd were mostly family and friends, it still made the entire atmosphere electric. Though he only played three songs off of his EP, he brought them to life and invigorated them in a way I don’t think I expected.
Stylistically, Ross is something of a lounge jazz singer, his high reedy voice and his effortless piano playing lend themselves to that. My initial review of Ross’ disc appeared at http://catchthephoenix.blogspot.com and I compared him to Ben Folds. I don’t know if I see much of Ben Folds anymore. Certainly Ross possesses Folds manic energy, his piano prowess and his knack for strong melody, but the comparisons end there. Only his song “Oh Christine” had the Folds catalog knocked down. To be honest, pinning Ross down musically is kind of tough. A Newsday reviewer has compared him to the Beatles, and while I think that’s a bit grandiose, the similarities are there.
For the past few months I’ve been trying to pin down his vocals and compare them to someone and I can’t think of anyone. On stage his songs possess a real Elton John, Billy Joel sensibility, which is the cream of the crop when it come to piano rock. There was a lot of Burn Down the Mission in songs like “A New Beginning” and a bit of Billy Joel in opener “This Ancient Bridge.” Perhaps Ross’ best move of the night was when he stepped away from the piano stool and donned an acoustic guitar and harmonica to sing “Always On My Way,” a song about a family road trip that dives into far loftier themes.
On stage he is very self-effacing and comfortable, and though he tended to babble and talk under his breath he showed great command for a debut. One particular gag that was memorable was whe he sang the opening verses to TLC’s mid-90’s hit “Waterfalls” before tackling the romantic “Stay Here With Me.” Even more surprising, Ross was almost outshined by his backing band. Featuring a spot-on rhythm section and a Mike Campbell-clone in guitarist Ben Jurist, the backing band really provided the skeleton to Ross’ uptemo energy and thumping rock. While Ross’ deft piano-playing took centerstage on most every song, Jurist’s howling leads were the definite selling point of Ross’ live set, most notably on songs “This Is Just a Test” and closer “Living Proof.” Ross has claimed he maintains one of the best backing bands in New York City and the set at the Bitter End certainly proved that.
Though an East Coast tour still remains uncertain at this point, Ross’ backstory is worth mentioning. After studying jazz piano at London’s Goldsmith College, Ross enrolled at Cornell University where his senior thesis, an opus about adulthood and adolescence entitled “One Way” was marked by the Cornell Daily Sun as a “masterpiece” and an “album for an era.” Graduating Summa Cum Laude, Ross began working for Congressman Jerrold Nadler as a staffer, a job he still maintains to this day.
At 22, Ross is ever so lucky. Armed with a wealth of piano pop sensibilities he is poised to make his name on the New York City music scene. Whereas Ben Folds always seemed to segue into a literary, quirky, indie direction Ross goes more mainstream. Think Top 40 radio with a splash of classical piano, and lounge-singer soul. He seems to bridge the gap between Ben Jelen and Gavin DeGraw quite nicely and, considering the success of those two, I’d be surprised if Ross doesn’t make a splash soon. With movie-star good looks and a growing buzz in the MySpace world I expect big things from his next release. Catch him before his concerts are sold out.
