Del Dako

Del Dako (* 1954 in Toronto ; † January 19, 2013 ) was a Canadian jazz musician ( alto and baritone saxophone , vibraphone ) who was active in the Toronto music scene.

Life

Del Dako was the child of Hungarian immigrants; influenced by the music of Charlie Parker , he began to play modern jazz , initially alto saxophone in school bands, when he attended Upper Canada College in Toronto. He then studied at York University in the newly created jazz program; his fellow students included Jane Bunnett and Mark Eisenman. He began his career as a professional musician with a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in a student band. In the following years he was mainly active in the jazz scene in Toronto, played a. a. in Jim Galloway's Wee Big Band and the band Jive Bombers (in which he also played baritone); He also accompanied guest musicians such as Slim Gaillard and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson . He toured Canada in the 1990s and released two albums under his own name, Balancing Act (Sackville, 1995) and Vindaloo (1998). In the field of jazz, Dako participated in nine recording sessions between 1978 and 1998. He was also active as a music teacher with the Scarborough Board of Education . After a bicycle accident in 2001, he had to interrupt his career at the age of 47, then continued as a vibraphonist. He died on January 19, 2013 of complications from non-Hodgkin lymphoma .

Web links

• Del Dako website
• Del Dako at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biographical data of Del Dako in: canadianjazzarchive ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Obituary at The Globe & Mail
3. ↑ Tom Lord Jazz Discography