E-Mail KJ Dave Doran: kjdavedoran@drums4life.com
KJ Dave Doran's life has been dominated by music since childhood. Son of an
Irish ballad singer and a Swiss mother, KJ Dave proved his musical talent and creativity
as a drummer already at age 16 giving a convincing performance at the Open Air
Festival in Augst, Switzerland. At that time, his talent won him a grant at
the Jazz school in Berne. KJ Dave's first band KIOL, featuring his sister Brigeen
Doran, Heinz Affolter,
Raoul Walton and Fernando Saunders, soon attracted wide attention beyond Switzerland. The release of two
albums, Take it on (1979) and Sunny Day (1980), documents the musical work of
this formation. Around the same time, KJ Dave also met the successful New York
based bassist Fernando Saunders. Their
intense co-operation on bass and drum successfully combined American and Irish
influences. Tours through Germany and Switzerland as well as concerts at the
Jazz Festivals of Berlin and Belgrade (1982) were to follow.
KJ Dave's co-operation with brother Christy
Doran resulted in the release of a new album Antenna Out. Through
extensive studies at the New York based Drummer
Collective School under the protection of Alex Acuna and Lenny White,
KJ Dave Doran greatly improved and refined his playing.
The formation KIOL played as the opening act on Billy
Cobham's Glass Menagerie tour (1983).
The year 1984 saw KJ Dave Doran's first performance at the well-known Jazz Festival in Willisau,
Switzerland.
The tone of the following years is set by various trios featuring Jasper
Van't Hof, Peter Ponger,
Christy Doran and others. One of the particularly outstanding projects during
this time was the May 84 Project with Dom
Um Romao, Norma Winston, Rosko
Gee, Urs
Leimgruber, Trilok Gurtu and
Christy Doran. The live album MAY 84 documents the outstanding formation.
In 1986 KJ Dave toured former East Germany with his band Doran, Cook & Miller.
The band's members were: Brigeen Doran, Mark
Koch and Fredy Miller. A rather unique project was the Doran Band,
formed by KJ Dave's sister Brigeen, his brother Christy and Fredy Miller.
This formation was awarded a music grant of the City and Canton of Lucerne which
led to the recording of the album Jazzrap (1991) with Fernando Saunders on bass,
Benny Diggs, vocals, and Michael Bearden on Keyboards.
The following USA tour with concerts, among others, in the Middle East Club
in Boston and the Knitting
Factory in New York City was supported by the Swiss Culture Foundation
Pro Helvetia.
The JAZZRAP-Tour took the band through Europe, from Lucerne to Berlin to Kiel.
An additional album, Brigeen Doran's Bright Moments, also had its roots in the
Doran Band and was greatly supported by brothers KJ Dave and Christy.
Musically, KJ Dave Doran can't be easily categorized as his music always explores
new territory and his musical skill finds its way into various projects such
as the dance project Trommeltanz and the play Die Bachantinnen, staged at the
town theatre of Lucerne. In 1993, KJ Dave also wrote seven jingles for the Swiss
TV program Delikatessen, showing
special feature films.
E-Mail KJ Dave Doran: kjdavedoran@drums4life.com
Other CDs: " Bright Moments" with Brigeen Doran, Fernando Saunders,
Christy Doran "ZAP" with FUNKOLOGY.
During KJ Dave's stay in New York City in 1994, the project Rhythm Voice with David
Mills was born. This resulted in the formation Roland Philipp, sax, Mamadu Mbaye,
African drums, Bruno Amstad, djembe, vocals, and Gianni Luescher, bass. The
band toured Switzerland and Germany in 1997.
KJ Dave produces several drum&bass projects including Virus Attack. His
CD Rhythm Voice featuring Mr. Defunkt Joseph
Bowie has won international recognition. (Plainisphare PL 1267-109)
The music magazine Jazzthetik writes: One of the best albums in 1998 (Micheal
Moehring)
Toured in Senegal with his band supported by the Swiss Culture Foundation Pro Helvetia. Adds more funk to the Afro-Jazz sound of the band with gitarist Kelvyn Bell (Kelvinator).
2000 records with the band the album "The New Rhythm Culture" with Joseph Bowie, Kelvyn Bell, Mamadou Mbaye, Don Pfäffli and Gianni Luscher. The album is release by Plainisphare and Frémeaux Associes (France).
2001 renewal of "Rhythm Culture" with Jean-Paul Bourelly (African Boom Bop) a.o. Formed "SPECIAL EDITION" a acoustic quartett with Heiri Känzig, Christoph Stiefel and Dave Feusi, which play exclusively compositions of Dave.
At present KJ Dave is working on his new project "XL-target" LIVE Triphop / Break Beat with Christy Doran.
worked with: Bobby Burri, bass, Peter Schärli, tr, Glen Ferris, tb, Dave Moreno, g, DD Jackson, keyb. Marc Peterson, bass, Wedam Roche, keyb. Fredy Studer, dr, Loris Peloso, g, Rene Simon, keyb. Diriki Mack, voc, Andy Herrmann, keyb. Andy Zingsem, voc, Marco Figini, g, Mark Hauser, sax, Andy Kunz, g, Philippe Mall-Darby, sax, Samira Mall-Darby, voc, Fredy Luescher, keyb. Christoph Stiefel, keyb. a.o.