Daniela Schachte - Purple Butterfly (2009)

Daniela, pianist vocalist and composer, was born in Messina, Italy and started early her musical career in Sicily. In 1999 she moved to United States of America as recipient of a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music, where she studied with Joe Lovano, Hal Crook, Phil Wilson, and Joanne Brackeen. Here she performs with Patti Austin, Tiger Okoshi, Terri Lyne Carrington, Regina Carter, Christian McBride, New York Voices, Ingrid Jensen and Phil Wilson Rainbow Band.
Daniela has won many awards, such as the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition The Sister in Jazz Competition, the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Competition, the ‘Tindari ‘93 Prize’ for best jazz duo with her brother Davide. Also she appeared in the Jazziz 2001 magazine collector's CD and she has been featured among the top jazz musicians in NYC in the Japanese Playboy Magazine. Daniela has performed in prestigious Festivals such as the Cape Cod Jazz Festival, the Cape May Jazz Festival, the Cleveland Jazz Fest, the International Trumpet Guilt Conference, the Java Jazz Festival, Lugano Estival Jazz, the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, the Ravinia Jazz Festival with the Count Basie Big Band and the Sarasota Jazz Festival. She has performed in prestigious venues such as Symphony Hall in Boston with the Boston Pops and Patti Austin and the Hollywood Bowl in LA with Shirley Horn.
She has played under the direction of Quincy Jones, Patrick Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Clayton Jr., Elmer Bernstein, Bob Brookmeyer and Justin DiCioccio.
More recently Daniela Schächter was guest artist of the prestigious Marian McPartland Piano Jazz radio program and of JazzSet hosted by Dee Dee Bridgewater on WGBO 88.3 FM. She was panelist at the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Competition and she performed with Kevin Mahogany and legend Slide Hampton.
Now she is piano and voice faculty at Berklee College of Music but she resides in New York where she is leading her group and working on her new projects.