Dan Palladino Bio

Dan Palladino is a guitarist, vocalist, composer, and music instructor based in Central New Jersey. He began his journey on guitar at the age of seven, played his first gig at the age of 12, and has continually performed in public for the past 45 years. Along the way, he has backed Broadway stars (Cady Huffman, Tamra Hayden), opened for comedians (Joan Rivers, David Brenner), appeared with contemporary jazz groups (Todd Collins Trio, Offramp), and performed live and in the studio, with various singer/songwriters, jazz ensembles, and R&B groups.

Currently, Dan performs 160+ live dates per year with Acoustic NRG, an acoustic classic rock trio.

Dan honed his skills playing rock music from the 1970’s. Progressive music of that era was the bridge that led him into jazz, and improvised music. “I don't consider myself a jazz musician, but I am an improvisor. While I love playing standard tunes and improvising in that style, I also enjoy creating spacey loops and improvising until I hit on an organic theme. I think I come closest to my own voice in situations where I can combine elements of rock, jazz and more avant garde experiments.”

Dan's latest release is the single ambient track, "Leaving Cygnus", a trip through space and time featuring electric sitar improvisations. He elaborates, "Electric sitar is a sound I've always loved, and I find it especially suitable for ambient music. I think I've found the right balance of instrumentation and improvisation, while creating melodies that are really quite simple. I hope 'Leaving Cygnus' will appeal to the music connoisseur, as well as the casual listener."

On February 2, 2019, Dan released the ambient album, Pastoral Memory, which he composed, arranged, performed, and produced at his home studio, The Torpedo Room. Pastoral Memory was awarded Best Meditation Album of 2019 by New Age Music Guide, and Best Ambient Album of 2019 by One World Music Radio. Dan has also released two albums with the pop/rock project, The Mung Brothers: Honey, grab your coat! in 2004, and Here We Go! In 2016. Songs from Honey, grab your coat!, co-written by Dan and Richard Gnum, were licensed for use by MTV’s Cribs, and My Super Sweet Sixteen. Samsung America also licensed the album in 2012.

In collaboration with singer/songwriter, Alice Leon, Dan co-wrote and produced the segment music for New York Uncovered, featured on The Joan Hamburg Show on WOR radio in NYC.

Dan was technical editor for the book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Home Recording Illustrated, by Clayton Walnum (Alpha).

From 2005 - 2022, Dan was on the music faculty at County College of Morris, Randolph, NJ, where he taught Intro to Music Recording, Intro to Music Business, Music History, Aural Comprehension and Rock History and Culture. In addition, he has taught private guitar lessons for the past 30 years.

Dan earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in 1985.