Dan Fielding's Bio  

Dan 'Dano' Fielding seemed to be born with Rhythm in his blood. At age 5, he sat on the largest chair in his house and made believe he was air drumming to the beatles 'Help' album ,which had just been released. At age 11, he was already learning how to play a drum set and began playing in the High School Wind and Select Ensembles as well as the Marching Band.At the same time, Dan was developing a love for the out of doors. The polyrhythmic style that he began to emulate from such drummers as Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa ,Billy Cobham (during the Mahavishnu Orchestra Phase) and Lenny White(Return to Forever) matched what he saw and heard outside.The blowing of wind, the repetitive sway of beach tides, the blast of a machine chopping away at cement, the chirping of frogs and insects at dusk and listening to ones own heartbeat, all had discernable patterns. Thus, for Dan, the the internalization of of his outside environment manifested itself in music and has done so ever since.

Dan studied with a professional drummer as a teenager.Warren Harding had been the lead percussionist in the pit orchestra of Broadway's musical '1776' during its run on Broadway in the mid 1970's.Mr.Harding took Dan to Trinity Church where he played Tympani and other percussion instruments during a chamber music orchestral performance in 1975.In college, Dan broadened his horizons.He played in a fusion band called 'At a Moments Notice', a Grateful Dead band called 'The Space Potatos', a Jazz Ensemble, a Blues Ensemble and a traveling school band called 'The Scarleteers and Tanageers' that went to Colorado where they played at many High Schools across the front range promoting the liberal arts aspect of Grinnell College. In addition, while at school, Dan took on the resposibilities of Major Concerts Chairperson where he invited and met many world renowned musicians. They included, but were not limited to, Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Art Farmer, Albert Collins and the Icebreakers, The Raybeats, Gary Burton McCoy Tyner, The Heath Brothers, Ultravox and the Police, Jack Bruce and Friends etc...

Dan moved to Boulder Colorado after undergraduate school and continued playing out with the Space Potato's. In 1984 Dan moved back to New York City where he spent 10 years playing in a 70's cover band called The Basement Boyz.He also developed a career in the hospitality industry working in the lobby of some of New Yorks finest hotels, including the Waldorf Astoria and The Plaza Hotel( where he had opportunity to meet some of his favorite artists like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and Bob Dylan).

The outdoors kept calling and, in 1998, Dan left the corporate world to go on an unusual outdoor education program to get a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Education.It was through this program that Dan realized that part of his vocation was to teach.The great educator Parker Palmer said don't look for your vocation because it's in you already. Dan was realizing that, and not just about education."I began listening to my heart speak...in fact, what I heard, were the same beats I heard when I was hiking or reading or meditating...There Was Still A Pulse..." Dan was listening to his heartbeat say it was time to include music in his vocation as it had become part of who he was.Currently, Dan plays covers with some friends that go all the way back to his Grinnell College days. His major endeavor, however, is with the recently formed Agents of Karma...