Dan Aldag

Dan Aldag has taught at Cal Poly Humboldt since 1994 and received the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013. At CPH, he leads the Jazz Orchestra and the Jazz Combos and teaches trombone and courses in jazz and popular music.

Dan regularly performs on trombone with the North Coast Brass Ensemble and Low Class Jazz and writes arrangements for both groups. He has played behind many jazz and popular artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Louie Bellson, Joe Williams, Bob Hope, the Temptations, Diane Schuur, Bobby Caldwell, and the Manhattan Transfer.

Dan’s compositions and arrangements for jazz band, brass quintet, and trombone have been published by Ensemble Publications and Really Good Music, performed throughout the United States and Europe, and recorded on the Seabreeze Vista label.

A strong advocate for jazz education, he frequently works with middle school and high school jazz bands, adjudicates and clinics at jazz festivals, directs honor jazz bands, and created a jazz pedagogy course for music education majors at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Dan is a founding board member of the Redwood Jazz Alliance, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which brings jazz artists to Humboldt County for performances and educational workshops. Through his work with the RJA, he has helped to present more than 100 internationally-known artists.