About

Dan Pitt is a guitarist, composer and improviser currently based in Toronto, Canada. 

Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Dan started studying guitar at 10 years old. Throughout his teens, he played music both in school and with bands at venues downtown. Eventually, Dan went on to study jazz at Mohawk College learning from guitarist Bob Shields. Afterwards, Dan moved to Toronto and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance at the University of Toronto. During his time there, Dan learned from many great musicians including, David Restivo, Geoff young, Andrew Downing, Jim Lewis, Terry Promane, Mike Murley and Phil Nimmons. Additionally, Dan also attended the School for Improvisational Music where he learned from David Torn, Brad Shepik, Ben Monder, Michael Formanek and Tony Malaby

Dan performs regularly throughout Toronto in a variety of music genres and ensembles. He leads his own creative improv group, Dan Pitt Trio, which features bassist Alex Fournier and drummer Nick Fraser. Their debut record, "Fundamentally Flawed", was regarded as “an album that is rich in complexity, original creativity and sophisticated musicianship.” (JazzMusicBlog). They now have two albums as a group including the former mentioned and their 2023 release “Stages”.

In 2021, Dan expanded his group and recorded a quintet album entitled “Wrongs”. This group included woodwind players Naomi McCarroll-Butler and Patrick Smith along with the members of Dan’s trio. Together, these five musicians extend the vision of this experimental music and build upon it further in this larger ensemble format. These explorations are continued further in the groups latest release “Horizontal Depths” coming at the end of 2024.

Dan has performed across Canada and the USA and his music has been received, played and reviewed across the world. He has had the opportunity to work with musicians such as Pat Collins, David Braid, Terry Promane, Andrew Downing, Dave Young, Terry Clarke, Lina Allemano, Tim Berne and Michael Attias. Dan also appears on recordings with Canadian musicians Harrison Vetro and Noah Franche-Nolan. 

Dan has also been awarded a Stingray Rising Star award as part of the Jazz Youth Summit at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in 2017. Additionally, Dan has been a recipient of many grants from organizations such as the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.