Dan Manjovi |
"Dan Manjovi" Dan Manjovi Performance Review By: Terry Christopher Dan Manjovi: A Renaissance Man In Concert After paying for and abandoning one cab for the #6 train downtown only to jump into another cab to walk in on the middle of the first song, I had finally arrived at the Sidewalk Café in New York City’s famous and tres artsy lower East side on June 7th, 2007 for an 8pm performance by Dan Manjovi. Every effort I had made to get there was rewarded in a night of music by an artist who is as comfortable playing solo as with his band and flips easily from playing guitar to piano. |
Dan started his packed house show at the Sidewalk Café with his first song Everybody’s Got An Agenda. This was a strong opening as he demonstrated his accomplished ability on guitar as well as his powerful, vocal production. His next song, Forgotten How To Dream was a sad lamentation of a person who has temporarily lost his way and ability to create a sense of hope in his dreams of better days ahead. By the end of this song, I had a sense that Dan may have been a bit inspired by the Eagles while growing up as he specifically had a Don Henley style to his guitar and vocal work. Let’s face it. Don Henley is not a bad master to be inspired by.
Heading into the third song of the 11 song set, Dan changed instruments and showed his rather fluid, second natured ability on the 88’s. I have to say right off, I was impressed with Dan’s piano ability because it surpassed just standard piano accompaniment by digging deep into the roots of jazz, blues, and rock arrangements and chord structures. The first out of the gate on piano was his jazz infused song Stay which had a very uplifting, positive, feel about it in its love based lyric. This song brought to mind another master and likely childhood influence, the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel. Dan’s next song, Sunday, was a true romantics song about all the things lovers do on a lazy NYC Sunday morning like staying in bed late, snuggling and such sans any pj’s, the leisure stroll through Central Park and taking in a bit of shopping at Saks. This rollicking, playful and somewhat teasing tune offered the audience an opportunity to play out on the movie screen of their minds who they would spend their Sunday with. For a songwriter to accomplish such a journey the entire length of a song is quite a feat. Is Anybody Watching was a polite song about the obvious and often careless obsession we in America seem to have with pop culture coupled with acquiring the latest, the greatest, and the biggest gadgets. I say polite because it could have easily and justifiably been a song slamming a message of WAKE UP ALREADY down the throats of the many hounds of excess in the U.S. There was a very well written and equally well played piano interlude that smacked of a showdown combining the ability of Billy Joel and Elton John. It was like blending the piano prowess of Only The Good Die Young by Joel with Crocodile Rock by John. But again, this was only one Dan Manjovi delivering the goods of the Piano and Rocket Man combined. Tonight, Manjovi captivated his enthusiastic and supportive audience song after song.
Best of Intentions again demonstrated Billy Joel’s influence as well as demonstrating Dan’s passionate piano playing. Make no mistake about who Dan’s influences are as Manjovi never rests on the coattails of those legends but instead carves out a style and sound that clearly identifies him as an individual artist. In his song Celebrity, Dan tackles the modern day era celebrity that people seem to so easily gain for doing sometimes nothing worth celebrating. Does the word Celebutante ring any bells? Next on the set-list came Daddy Long Legs and East of the Sun. My personal fav of these 2 was the youthful, playful and fun Daddy Long Legs more so because of the blistering piano work played by Manjovi. Dan ended his set with I Fall Down and Things’ll Get Better.
Dan Manjovi is an accomplished guitarist, piano man, singer, songwriter, and voice teacher who has appeared with the likes of John Mayer, Nellie McKay, Donna Summer and Grace Hightower DeNiro. Manjovi has performed at famed NYC hotspots like Bitter End, The Cutting Room, The Triad Theatre and the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival ASCAP Music Lounge. Check out Dan’s website at www.danmanjovi.com to catch this Renaissance man in the act!
Written by: Terry Christopher
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