 Drummer/Composer/Arranger Dennis Mackrel was born in 1962.
A child prodigy, he began playing the drums when he was two. He
graduated from Clark High School in Las Vegas, Nevada and attended the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
He is the recipient of numerous
awards such as "Who's Who in Music", 1979; National Endowment For The
Arts grant for composition in 1983; and in 1992; "Outstanding Alumni"
from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
While attending UNLV, he was a member of the acclaimed UNLV Jazz
Ensemble where his drumming and arranging skills caught the attention
of vocalist Joe Williams. In 1981, at 19 years of age, Dennis moved to
New York City and landed a gig as a drummer on Broadway. His Broadway
credits include "The First" and "A Chorus Line".
In January of 1983, Dennis joined the Count Basie Orchestra on the
personal recommendation of Mr. Williams. He would become the youngest
member of the orchestra and the last drummer to be hired by Mr. Basie
personally.
Dennis traveled extensively and
worked alongside Mr. Basie until his death in April 1984. He continued
with the orchestra under the direction of interim leader Eric Dixon
followed by Thad Jones. "I think Dennis is one of the finest young
drummers I've ever heard. He is extremely knowledgeable and he is also
a very accomplished writer...", said Jones. In 1985 under Mr. Jones’s
leadership, the Count Basie Orchestra recorded one of Dennis’s
compositions entitled “And That’s That”.
Dennis stayed with the band, when Frank Foster took over as leader,
until December of 1987. Dennis’s composition “Bus Dust” was included on
the CD “Long Live The Chief” which was recorded during Mr. Foster’s
tenure as leader.
After leaving the Orchestra, he returned to New York to become the
drummer of choice for a number of large ensembles including The
American Jazz Orchestra, The Carla Bley Big Band, The Vanguard Jazz
Orchestra, The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band and his own band, The
Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra.
Dennis’s connection to the Basie family of musicians has remained
strong having been a member of Buck Clayton’s Swing Band and veteran
trombonist Grover Mitchell’s 12 piece orchestra which incidentally was
co-led by another veteran trombonist, Bill Hughes. Both Mr. Mitchell
and Mr. Hughes successively would follow Frank Foster as the leaders of
the Count Basie Orchestra. Dennis is one of the few musicians who has
performed with the Basie band under every leader since Mr. Basie
himself and in 2010, Dennis succeeded Bill Hughes to become the leader
of the Count Basie Orchestra.
In addition to becoming a seasoned musician and bandleader, Dennis has
also become a highly respected conductor/arranger/educator whose
works have been recorded and performed by ensembles such as The WDR Big
Band in Koln, Germany, The Klüvers Big Band in Aarhus, Denmark,
and most notably The McCoy Tyner Big Band, whose Grammy winning CD's
"The Turning Point" and "Journey" included four of Dennis's
arrangements. He has also served as a jazz educator in Europe, Asia,
Canada and the USA.
Some of the other notable musicians Dennis has performed with include:
Lionel Hampton, Hank Jones, Take 6, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Clare
Fischer, Quincy Jones and Sir George Shearing, who said "If I ever have
a record date coming up that calls for a drummer and Dennis is not
available, I'll postpone the session. He's that good."
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