Brooklyn born drummer Dana Hall has been an important musician on the international music scene since 1992. After completing his education in aerospace engineering at Iowa State University, he received his Bachelor of Music degree from William Paterson College and his Masters degree in composition from DePaul University. He is presently a distinguished Special Trustees Fellow completing his Doctorate in ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago.
The list of exceptional artists that Mr. Hall has performed, toured, and/or recorded with includes Branford Marsalis, Ray Charles, Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, Orbert Davis, Horace Silver, Michael Brecker, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling, Benny Green, Frank Foster, Betty Carter, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Bobby Hutcherson, Wallace Roney, Diana Krall, Renee Rosnes, Clark Terry, the Mingus Big Band, Steve Lacy, Muhal Richard Abrams, Buster Williams, Gary Bartz, Ira Sullivan, Lester Bowie, Slide Hampton, James Moody, Shirley Scott, Joe Williams, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Patricia Barber, Ralph Bowen, Bud Shank, Phil Woods, Von Freeman, Kenny Barron, Maria Schneider, Jackie McLean, Mulgrew Miller, the Woody Herman Orchestra, Joe Henderson, Curtis Fuller, and Oliver Lake, among others. Mr. Hall is a member of the Terell Stafford Quintet and the Music Director of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. Additionally, he is a former regular member of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band under the direction of Jon Faddis and has served as an extra in the percussion sections of the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids Symphonies.
Professor Hall is also a clinician and educator. In 2004, Mr. Hall joined the faculty of the University of Illinois AT Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor of Music. He has served as a faculty member at the University of Chicago teaching courses in world music and at Columbia College Chicago, teaching private students. Mr. Hall is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Band Director's Academy and Essentially Ellington faculties, both under the directorship of Wynton Marsalis, providing jazz pedagogical resources, mentoring, and practical tools for band directors. Recently, Mr. Hall completed a four-year association with the Ravinia Festival's Jazz in the Schools Mentoring Program, educating public school students on music fundamentals and their associated jazz applications. In the summer of 2000, Mr. Hall joined the faculty at the Merit School of Music, continuing his mission to assist in bringing quality music education to students in Chicago. Mr. Hall is a member of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz's Jazz in America Program and the Jazz of Chicago's Artists Residency Program. In each, he mentors secondary school students in the fundamentals of jazz, Latin, and popular musics. Mr. Hall also maintains a private studio.
Concurrent with his national and international recording and touring projects, Mr. Hall can be seen and heard in Illinois performing and recording with his own groups and as an artist with other ensembles. Mr. Hall uses, endorses, and is artistically supported by Yamaha Drums, Bosphorus Cymbals, and Pro-Mark Drumsticks.