Daniel Dzidzonu

Daniel Dzidzonu was born into the sounds of West African percussions and gospel.

His father managed a brass band that performed at church services, weddings, funerals and on the streets of the capital (Lome). That exposure led him to a fascination with brass instruments from a very young age.
One day while one of his father’s horn players was cleaning his trumpet, the little Daniel was allowed to have a go at the instrument, which was a huge priviledge. The horn player and his father were amazed by the sound that came out of the four year old’s blowing, quickly realizing that he had a natural affinity with the instrument. His father gave him a bugle for his 5th birthday and that’s when his journey of blowing in the air begun, imitating traditional Apkesse Bands, whereby voices accompany Ewe drumming which is punctuated with bugle interlude solos. He joined a brass band in Lome at the age of eight.

However, his real dream was to play the trumpet. Even though the members of his father’s band offered advice on the basics of horn playing, he was not allowed to touch or play with their instruments. He had to wait for many years before he got his first trumpet. A church member who taught classical trumpet and music theory taught him how to read sheet music, with only the church hymn books as tools. The rest relied on learning melodies by heart. As a pastime, he would memorise the melodies of songs that he heard on the radio and TV, and then seek for new or different ways of playing them, unknowingly honing his talent and improvisation skills.

At 12 years old, he was already taking music seriously. He discovered jazz music through listening to his father’s Louis Armstrong cassettes. His solo rendition of ‘When the saints go marching in’ which was a favourite at weddings, is what got him noticed. His style of playing was unique to him and his sound was distinctively different to that of his elders. This earned him the role of the bandleader in his father’s brass band at 16, when he started composing his own music, drawing inspiration from blues, gospel and African traditional music.

In 2009 he moved to Belgium, where he studied jazz at the Music Academy of Evere’s jazz section where he was awarded with the prestigious Prix d’Amis for his unique sound and outstanding end of year performance.
He recorded his first CD “Ewe Blue” that same year and since played with various jazz ensembles, funk outfits and also joined the World Squad European tour in 2011, playing alongside Fela Kuti’s legendary guitar player, Oghene Kologbo.
Alongside the trumpet, his first love, Daniel also plays the bass, guitar and percussions.