Daniel LaCour Duke is a critically acclaimed bassist and composer who has performed with some high profile musicians throughout his career, including Vincent Herring, Louis Hayes, and Mulgrew MIller. Daniel was born in Baton Rouge Louisiana in 1989, the son of two classical pianists. When offered a job at MacPhail Center for Music, his parents moved the family to St. Paul, Minnesota where Daniel began learning the violin as a child. Throughout his childhood, he was exposed to jazz, brass bands and Cajun music on frequent visits to his mother’s family in New Orleans. As a teenager he started playing bass, and by the time he turned 18, he was working regularly as a professional bassist with jazz, rock, and salsa bands in Minneapolis.

 

In 2012 Duke moved to New York after attending William Paterson University in New Jersey. He began working full time as an acoustic bassist, initially supplementing his income by playing on the West 4th Street subway platform and in Washington Square Park. He made many connections in the New York City jazz scene, and after a year he was performing almost nightly at restaurants, bars, and jazz clubs.    

 

Duke currently lives in the Bronx and appears at Birdland, Dizzy’s, Smoke Jazz Club, and West Village mainstays Small’s and Mezzrow, accompanying renowned New York musicians like Michael Kanan, Sacha Perry, Chris Byars, Zaid Nasser, and Chris Flory. He plays at theaters and jazz listening rooms across the United States and internationally, accompanying high level acts like Jane Monheit, Isaac Mizrahi and the Anderson brothers. Duke has also contributed as a bassist and composer on numerous albums, including saxophonist Nicole Glover's critically acclaimed album Strange Lands (Savant 2021), which featured his song "Hive Queen." Most recently, he played on guitarist Joe Wittman’s pair of albums Trio Works Sol and Trio Works Lume with long time collaborators Keith Balla and Fukushi Tainaka on drums. 

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