Dana Leong Launches New Album and Worldwide Tour

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Dana Leong, an international jazz artist known for his genius mastery of the cello and trombone, brings his signature style of rock-hop, nu-jazz and plain old funk music to The Knitting Factory, Wednesday, November 14th.Premiering original multi-genre compositions off of his second full-length album Anthems of Life, Dana is joined by his electro-acoustic ensemble, The Dana Leong Band. This kicks-off their 2007-2008 international tour as part of Jazz at Lincoln Center's The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program.

Described as crafting “lines of sublime lyric content” (Chicago Tribune), and “sizzling, highly stylized solos” (Philadelphia Inquirer), Dana started his impressive career with the rare skill of commanding both the cello and trombone. He has held roles as both a performer and composer with top artists including: the 2006 Grammy-nominated jazz chamber trio led by Paquito D'Rivera (where he fills a chair frequented by Yo-Yo Ma); the 2007 Grammy-nominated Dafnis Prieto Absolute Quintet; and has worked with Ray Charles, Diddy, Kanye West, Wynton Marsalis, Yoko Ono, and more. Following his successful debut release Leaving New York (featuring Grammy Award winners Christian McBride and Paquito D'Rivera), Dana recently completed his latest recording Anthems of Life (scheduled to drop 11/01/2007).

As bandleader/composer, Dana heads The Dana Leong Band featuring Dana (cello/trombone/laptop), Aviv Cohen (drums), Jason Lindner (keyboards), and MC Baba Israel (rap vocals). The group's unique fusion of electronic hip-hop, jazz funk rhythms and rock propulsions is quickly hypnotizing America, and soon the world. As part of The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program, produced in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, they'll tour all of Asia for one month starting November 20th. Dana, who is of both Chinese and Japanese descent, was chosen, along with his band, from a national pool of applicants to represent American music overseas; serving as one of the country's urban music quartets that best reflects the talent and diversity of musicians from across the United States.

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