About

Daniel Greco Costa was born in 1989 in London (UK) to an Italian and Portuguese family. He initially studied classical piano for six years at the Académie de Musique Rainier III, as well as jazz, and wrote his first composition at the age of twelve. In 2010, he was awarded a diploma with merit at Sir Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in the UK, but his strong interest in his Latin roots coupled with his passion for jazz led him to study at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo in Portugal, where he graduated in jazz piano with a Rotary Club award for outstanding achievement in 2015. During his course, he was also awarded a merit grant to study Brazilian music at UNICAMP – Universidade Estadual de Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil). He pursued further studies at Berklee College of Music with a scholarship for outstanding achievement.

During his studies, he attended workshops and classes given by artists such as Gary Burton, Kevin Hays, Scott Colley, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jorge Rossy, Chick Corea and César Camargo Mariano. He has co-directed musicals, performed with orchestras and big bands, and starred as both a pianist and composer in projects in countries such as the UK, France, Finland, Germany, Spain, Greece and the USA.

In January 2016, he recorded his debut album Suite Três Rios in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with musicians such as Jaques Morelenbaum, Ricardo Silveira, Teco Cardoso, Rafael Barata, Marcos Suzano and Leila Pinheiro. It peaked at #1 on the iTunes Jazz Chart and Top 10 across all genres in Portugal, prior to hitting the #1 slot on the CMJ Top Adds Chart in the USA and being top 10 for several weeks on Roots Music Report. One of the best albums of the year for Down Beat Magazine, it received a Global Music Award and rave reviews from countries such as the USA, Russia, Canada and Brazil.

In May 2018 he recorded his new album Skyness at Arte Suono in Italy, featuring Bossa Nova icon Roberto Menescal, Jorge Helder, Teco Cardoso, Custodio Castelo, Romero Lubambo, Nelson Faria and Seamus Blake. Released at Blue Note Rio in November with Menescal and Faria. Skyness was taken to countries such as the USA, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Armenia, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, Lebanon and Egypt, where he was featured by Al Arab, which considered his music a message of love and intercultural communication. He also toured India, where he was interviewed by Rolling Stone Magazine and India Today. The track "Compelling" was featured by JAZZIZ Magazine on their Summer 2019 Album. In 2020, he recorded the single Love Dance with Ivan Lins and released his first solo piano and live album Live in California, a critically-acclaimed effort which came in second on Roots Music Report's Top Latin Jazz Album for 2020.

In 2022 he released the single Iremia with Randy Brecker as a message of peace. He also recorded his new album Beams in Brooklyn, New York City, with Dave Liebman, John Patitucci, Mike Stern, Hermeto Pascoal, Dave Douglas, Teco Cardoso, Paulinho Vicente and Anne Boccato. After releasing critically-acclaimed Beams in 2023, Dan was featured on the cover of Brazilian keyboard magazine Teclas e Afins, while his collaboration with John Patitucci was featured by American Bass Magazine. His track Acalantando was considered one of the best of the year by German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung while Paw Prints was chosen by FOUR PAWS Australia to support animal welfare. Beams has toured Europe, Australasia, Southeast Asia and Mexico.

Dan's output has also been included in instructional material designed to enhance learners' knowledge of world music rhythms. During his tours, he has collaborated with local musicians and interacted with traditional forms of expression, performing alongside Indian sarod, Syrian chant, Brazilian pandeiro, Portuguese guitar and Kazakh dombra, amongst others.

As an educator, Dan has done masterclasses at institutions such as Monash University (Australia), Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), The University of Auckland (New Zealand), Mahidol University (Thailand) and Global Music Institute (India). He also has university degrees in philosophy (BA), applied linguistics (MA) and history (MA), and has worked as a multilingual language educator and a writer for publications such as History (Historical Association) and Encyclopaedia Britannica, where he referred to tempo as "the heartbeat of expression”.