SearchParty was born out of Benje Daneman's 2015 Artist in Residence with Spark & Echo Arts, a New York City based arts organization. SearchParty, Daneman's jazz sextet, comprised of some of the best talent on the jazz scene today, currently performs and tours Daneman's original compositions and arrangements that musically explore the deeper questions and thoughts of life.

SearchParty's CD release tour for their first album, "Light in the Darkness", a 50-minute, 6 movement jazz suite commissioned by Spark and Echo Arts, musically explores the age-old struggle between light and darkness in the world through Daneman's original compositions. Richard Kamins (Step Tempest) says Light in the Darkness and SearchParty is "music that easily glides across borders and that illustrates how words and musicians can heal."

• Benje Daneman - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
• Greg Ward - Alto Saxophone
• Ashley Daneman - Voice
• Rob Clearfield - Piano
• Matt Ulery- Bass
• Jon Deitemyer - Drums

ABOUT BENJE DANEMAN

Jazz trumpeter, Benje Daneman, got his start professionally in 2007 on a national tour with The Doc Severinsen Big Band and has since performed as a sideman and leader at prestigious venues across the nation including The Kennedy Center, The Iridium Jazz Club, Festival of New Trumpet Music, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. An alumnus of Manhattan School of Music, Western Michigan University and The Henry Mancini Institute (Los Angeles, CA), Daneman is also a passionate music educator and has worked as a teaching artist with The New York Pops, Western Michigan University's SEMINAR, and Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance (NYC). He has co-founded and directed multiple educational programs including The Jazz & Creative Institute, Kalamazoo Trumpet Workshop, and JazzStart Summer Jazz Workshop. Currently, he directs and leads the Kalamazoo Youth Jazz Orchestra and oversees the Kalamazoo Youth Jazz Lab Band, through Jazz & Creative Institute in partnership with Western Michigan University. As a music administrator, he has worked with The Festival of New Trumpet Music, jazz pianist Pascal Le Boeuf, Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music Record Label and is currently the Education Manager of The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.