Biography

Daryl Johns

Bassist Daryl Johns,  is making his mark on the music scene nationally and internationally. He attends the Manhattan School of Music and is the son of drummer Steve Johns and saxophonist Debbie Keefe Johns. At the age of 13, Daryl was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition. T.S. Monk wrote, "Daryl represents everything this music is about, his respect for the history belies his youth." Since then, his many awards and citations include being named WBGO’s “Jazz Star of Tomorrow” at the 2011 Champions of Jazz at Lincoln Center; winning the 2011 Michael Kamen Solo Award; multiple Student Music Awards from DownBeat Magazine; soloist awards from the Mingus Festival, NYC; and being a 2013 YoungArts Finalist. Daryl is one of the top young bassists in the world. 
​He was featured in Bass Quarterly Magazine in 2013. Daryl has attended the Vail and Centrum Jazz workshops, the Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony, the Skidmore, NJPAC Jazz for Teens, Jazz House Kids and Litchfield Jazz camps; the Jazz in July Summer Workshop at UMass Amherst; the Teen Town Jazz at the JCC Thurnauer School of Music; and was selected to the 2011 and 2012 GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles. Daryl is the first bassist to be selected to the NextGeneration Jazz Orchestra
​ four years in a row in its 43-year history, and is only the third person to make the Orchestra
 every year in high school. He’s appeared nationally and internationally with the NGJO in Japan, 
the West Coast, New York City, Boston, Montreal, and three Monterey Jazz Festivals. In demand as a professional performer, 
Daryl’s schedule has included; performances in and around NYC with the Wallace Roney Quintet and Jazz Orchestra performing the music of Wayne Shorter at the Charlie Parker Music Festival, NYC
A week at the Blue Note in New York City with the Legendary Guitarist, Larry Coryell Trio (double billed with the Stanley Clarke Trio). Other high-profile gigs include the Lenny White Trio and Quartet and at the Kennedy Center, Trumpets Jazz Club and the Newark Museum; and the Curtis Fuller Brasstet at the KennedyCenter. 
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Other performances include: Billy Hart, Joshua Redman, Vince Herring, Donny McCaslin, Joe Lovano, Ambrose Akinmusire, Michael Cochrane, Jimmy Owens, Randy Brecker, Bobby Shew, Christian Sands, Melissa Aldana, Tim Reis, Chris Parker, Russell Malone, Jimmy Heath, Geoff Keezer, Roy Hargrove, Benny Green, Steve Wilson, Roberta Picket, Carl Allen, Jay Leonhart, John Colliani, Valerie Ponomorov, Carl Allen, Steve Wilson, Jaleel Shaw, Rodney Jones, Dave Stryker, and Bernie Williams. His growing discography includes:
Understanding with the Wallace Roney Quintet for High Note Records
I Hear a Rhapsody with the Hod O’Brien Trio for Spice of Life Records 
Discovery  with the Michael Cochrane Trio on Steeple Chase Records
The Wolf/Clark Expedition (with Michael Wolf & Mike Clark) on Random Act Records. His endorsements include Fishman Transducers and Fodera Guitars.