A brilliant pianist and composer, Danilo Pérez combines the bebop tradition with his Panamanian heritage, African elements, modern classical, and other global musical influences. He initially established himself working with icons like Paquito D'Rivera and Dizzy Gillespie before gaining wider attention with Grammy-nominated albums like 1998's Central Avenue and 2000's Motherland. A former UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, he has taught at the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. Pérez has continued to explore ever more textured and varied instrumentations, as on 2008's Across the Crystal Sea and 2010's Grammy-nominated Providencia. Along with collaborations with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, Pérez has also earned accolades as a member of Wayne Shorter's acoustic quartet, and he took home a Grammy in 2020 for his work on singer Kurt Elling's Secrets Are the Best Stories. With 2021's Crisalida, Pérez further pushed his globally minded aesthetic to new heights.