Dan Neville – June 2025

A 35-year-old vibraphonist, composer, arranger, and educator from Rutherford, New Jersey, is an award-winning artist whose work bridges jazz and Latin American traditions. A 2025 recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Music Composition, Neville has performed across the U.S., Europe, and South America, with notable appearances at SFJAZZ Center and NBC’s Today Show. Originally from Sonoma, California, he began playing vibraphone in 2012 and immersed himself in Afro-Cuban and Colombian music, collaborating with notable musicians like John Santos and Anthony Blea. He studied at the California Jazz Conservatory and spent a year in Colombia, studying Pacific Coast marimba and featured in the 2023 documentary Viaje de La Marimba.

Neville’s debut album Tenerife (2017) and his production of La Voz del Mar (2022), by Colombian vocalist Xiomara Torres, earned critical acclaim, with La Voz del Mar spending 14 weeks at #1 on RMR’s Latin Jazz chart. He also leads the Colombian fusion band Corazón de Chonta, signed to Patois Records.

Neville’s creative journey began as a self-taught guitarist, drawn to jazz and later the vibraphone, which became central to his artistic life. His exploration of Latin jazz, salsa, Cuban music, and Colombia’s música del Pacífico deeply influences his compositions, blending jazz harmony with folkloric rhythms. He also writes for jazz orchestra, experimenting with unique techniques like mallet dampening and four-mallet playing on the vibraphone, aiming to integrate subtle nuances with orchestral textures.

For Neville, inspiration often comes from nature, biomimicry, and herbal medicine, which connect to the rhythms and sounds of Colombia’s Pacific Coast music. He draws from both modern jazz and natural cycles, aiming for his music to inspire listeners, offering moments of clarity, peace, & joy.

I want my art to inspire people to connect with their inner light. My hope is that the music becomes a kind of transport—something that brings people fully into the moment. And when it’s over, it feels like they’ve returned from a much-needed getaway or a deep, meaningful conversation. Some might describe that experience as a connection to God, though I don’t usually use that language myself. I simply want listeners to feel enveloped by the music—and when it ends, to be left with a sense of joy, clarity, or peace. That’s what music has done for me, and it’s the reason I’ve dedicated my life to it.