Ode to Gomez

Daina Shukis plays impressionist and classical piano pieces on synthesizer with Jeremy Steig improvising over top on flute. This is an introduction to Eddie Gomez on bass playing a bowed impressionist style with Colin Walcott on tablas and Jeremy on flute. There are two pieces recorded LIVE at a modern dance recital where Daina Shukis is dancing Marta Zorina's choreography of "Salome's Dance" and later a musical interlude from the same "Twilight Concert". As is customary the band known as "Daina and the Tribe" plays an instrumental number before she comes on the stage. There are two LIVE audio recordings of these Jeremy Steig compositions, one from the "Bottom Line" and one from the club "Negril" in New York City. The muscians at the "Bottom Line" are Tom Coppolla-key boards, Marvin Horne-guitar, Fernando Saunders-bass, Akira Tana-drums, Jeremy Steig-flute, and at the club "Negril" Mitch Forman-key boards, Mark Eigen-bass, Kamal Zabir-drums, Jeremy Steig flute. This instrumental album has been produced by Daina Shukis from audio recordings of LIVE performances of her band "Daina and the Tribe" featuring Jeremy Steig , dance concerts and piano flute duets. Colin Walcott was a member of the exceptionally talented band "Oregon" from the 1980's and the famous bassist Eddie Gomez is a giant in the jazz world having played for many years with Bill Evans, Elvin Jones and many others. Jeremy Steig was voted number 1 jazz flute player for the world in 1982 by Jazz Forum Top People Poll. Daina Shukis wrote the studio recording of "Forest Dance" in 7/8 time featuring Ray Mantilla on percussion, Sam Brown- guitar, Dan Wall - keyboards, also showing their expertise on the Steig tune "Casablanca" with Karl Ratzer-guitar and Gomez bass. Jeremy Steig took after his father William, the renown cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine and author, his pen and ink drawing is on the cover of our album. We are sure you will enjoy this exciting mix of wonderful musicians.

March 12, 1989 Vernon Reid - Guitar Player Magazine
Marvin Horne played with (drummer) Elvin Jones and Defunkt. He's the best jazz guitarist I've ever had the pleasure of working with. He can play a steady stream of the most beautiful, melodic eighth-notes you'll ever hear, and never play the same thing twice. He's from St. Louis and he's still playing.

Vernon Reid - Guitar Player magazine March 1989

November 16, 1982 Pawel Brodowski (Editor-in-Chief) - Jazz Forum magazine
Dear Jeremy Steig,

On behalf of JAZZ FORUM, the magazine of the International Jazz Federation, I would like to congradulate you on being voted the world's top flutist in our 16th annual international 1982 JF Top People Poll....

Keep swinging,

Pawel Brodowski, Editor-in-Chief
“Flute? Now, that is unusual and a welcome change from the junk usually going on here. And now, all sorts of rhythm sounds. You really pulled out everything on this one. I like the music and I like the unusual factors which are a pleasant surprise. This is not the sort of thing I usually listen to, but I like this one. I am going to assume now, as you pass the 90 second mark that this is an instrumental, so I cannot comment on the lyrics. You have really created a rich tapestry of sound here. There are enough rhythm instruments to make for a fascinating sound and complex rhythm. The musical instruments backing up the flute are providing a very rich picture for the flute to work again up, this was fantastic.”

December 31, 2013 crowd review of "Forest Dance" - reverbnation
“This song has a nice flute introduction, that starts to increase in the notes and the types of notes played. The use of the different, even exotic instruments to support the flute playing is very nice. This song has a ncie tempo, and would be good in a sort of a coffee shop setting. I am definitley into this song so far, and think that the production value is quite fantastic. The skill of the flutist is apparent, and is well displayed.”

December 31, 2013 crowd review of "Forest Dance" - Reverbnation
“I really like the flute or whatever wind instrument it is in the introduction. It's extremely peaceful and relaxing to listen to. I cannot begin to describe how I felt when the intro progressed into the rest of the song. It was great! I love the tropical getaway vibe I got when listening to this. I could close my eyes and picture myself on a beach, somewhere in the Caribbean, drinking champagne while peering off into the ocean. I really loved this song. It was incredibly creative and fun. I could also imagine hearing a song like this on the radio in Hawaii, or just at some beach themed party or club.

The first album I produced from my vintage catalogue, Daina and the Tribe LIVE at "Soundscape" with Jeremy Steig and "CBGB's" power trio, is in the artist spotlight for the 13th annual IMA music awards after having been reviewed by their judges in the LIVE performance category. You can go to this site http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima/2014 and look for my picture (in the cowboy hat)as leader of the band with the questionaire, BIO and link to other Daina and the Tribe sites. I am thrilled by this recognition and as this link will always be functional these shows will stay preserved."Voodoo Queen" a song I wrote with co-author Jeremy Steig has been accepted into the geneome project of PANDORA. "Cruise Control" also co-authored with Jeremy Steig and my own song "Sex Goddess" sole author, have been climbing the charts in coast2coast mix tapes and fm radio. We are no.1 on the reverbnation local jazz charts, 73 on the nationals and under 100 Global and a wonderful family of musicians have accepted me on their acclaimed website http://www.thejazznetworkworldwide.com/profile/DainaElizabethShukis

Daina Shukis received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance/Drama from New York University as well as studying voice and specialized in writing her own musical and vocal accompaniment for her choreography. As a dance accompanist at Skidmore College, Daina choreographed and wrote music for their dance group, as well as studied piano with Impressionist specialist Professor Housman (and later with Julia Ryauskas in New Jersey) which she brought to her Alma Mater Emma Willard School. She directed the production of the William Butler Yeats play "At the Hawks Well" at Skidmore, where she met Don Alias, Gene Perla and Jeremy Steig when they performed with Elvin Jones at a concert. These friendships lasted many years and their support of her music and dancing career resulted in the albums and videos presented on this website.

You may remember Stuart Klines View of Culture in his New York City News cast. Daina can be seen dancing at the Port Said where she was house dancer for many years. Prior she danced at the Egyptian Gardens and later other notable clubs in the New York area as well as Ft. Lauderdale and the West Coast. These clubs brought the best musicians from the Middle East to perform in New York and her love of Greek, Turkish and Arabic music shows in some of her writing and performances. She also had a great love for the art of ballet and took class regularly at the American Ballet Center in New York City and studied with Mellisa Hayden, Ola Fatum and Elizabeth Carrol at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. She studied Baharata Natyam with Sukanya the daughter of the famed Indian dancer Indrani, African Dancing with the great performer and teacher Chuck Davis, Modern dance with Paul Sanasardo, Arlene Laube and Stuart Hodes. Her choreographic piece danced to her own music and the improvisation of Jeremy Steig and Eddie Gomez, "Tlalocs Forest, Cocoon into Butterfly" was shown on cable TV on occasion.

Daina has sung for "Sesame Street" animations for children's television and performed for many years with her own band "Daina and the Tribe" in the New York City area at such notable clubs as the Bottom Line (opening for James Cotton), The Lone Star (opening for Jaco Pastorious), CBGB's and many others. Her song "Long John Silver" was incorporated into a play at the La Mama theatre in which Daina had a role as "Baby Doll"and choreographed the presentation. The Villager newspaper stated " Great Double Bill at La Mama". She was assaulted and severely injured and was not able to continue her career. On the road to recovery she is still composing and more recently performed her one woman 3 1/2 hr Patsy Cline tribute with originals on guitar and piano at the end of every set. She has produced 4 albums from her vintage catalogues, one instrumental album, "Mystic Rendezvous" instrumental Daina and the Tribe, on which Daina plays impressionist compositions on synthesizer. New material is in the works for the late fall. On a recently released album "Dance Of the Spirits, Daina's Tribe" are live audio recordings of the exciting singers Judy Niemack and Carolyn Coppolla who performed with Daina and the Tribe on occasion. More to come.