Talk:Chris Daniels (musician)

Chris Daniels requested biography updates

Hey Gang. I'm new to editing on wikipedia and I have some updates from Chris to add to his page. In addition to these copy edits, Chris wants to update his photograph with the same photo on his homepage of him performing in Telluride 2023. Here are the edits in bold-italics that he requested...

Chris "Spoons" Daniels (born September 30, 1952) is an American musician, bandleader, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A member of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, he is best known for his work with Chris Daniels & the Kings, a band he has led since 1984. He is considered an "icon of Colorado music" and is recognized for his role as a member of Magic Music, frequently described as Colorado's first jam band.

Early life and career

Daniels was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began playing guitar when he was 10. At seventeen, he moved to the East Coast and performed with several groups, and for a short time played in a band led by David Johansen, who later formed The New York Dolls. In 1971, Daniels moved to Colorado, and in 1972 he joined the acoustic jam band, Magic Music, which would come to be regarded as Colorado's first jam band. In addition to songwriting and singing, Daniels played lead guitar, mandolin, and banjo with Magic Music, whose members included Will Luckey, George Cahill, Bill Makepeace, Kevin Milburn and Navarro/Leftover Salmon bassist Rob Galloway. The group toured extensively in the United States and appeared at the 2nd and 3rd Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The band broke up in 1976. In 2018 Lee Aronshon, co-creator of Two And A Half Men and the Big Bang Theory filmed and released an award winning documentary about the band titled, 40 Years In The Making: The Magic Music Movie available on Amazon Prime and iTunes.

Daniels subsequently resumed his education, and attended Berklee College of Music and Macalester College. He graduated cum laude from Macalester in 1979.

After receiving his degree, Daniels returned to Colorado and formed Spoons, who in 1981 released the album Definitely Live on Sunshine Records. In 1982, he toured the United States with Russell Smith of the Amazing Rhythm Aces, performing on guitar, mandolin, and banjo. He also founded a late-night concert series called the "After Hours Jam" at the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride during the Telluride Bluegrass Festivals. He served as the bandleader and master of ceremonies for the series, which included performances by Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill, Edgar Meyer, Victor Wooten, Henry Paul, Howard Levy, Jonell Mosser, Bill Payne, Al Kooper, Sam Bush, John Cowan, Bela Fleck and others. Daniels met David Bromberg at the After Hours Jam, and they later played together at concerts in Colorado, Chicago, and New York. In 1989, Daniels appeared on Bromberg's album Sideman Serenade.

In 1983 he performed with New Grass Revival (Sam Bush, John Cowan, Bela Fleck, and Pat Flynn) at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

In 1984, Daniels formed Chris Daniels & The R&B Kings (later shortened to The Kings). Although originally planned as a "Boulder one-nighter," the band has released 20 albums and toured extensively in the United States and completed 22 European tours. Acclaimed for their live performances as well as their records, Chris Daniels & the Kings have performed at prestigious festivals including the Carolina Downhome Blues Festival, Parkpop in the Netherlands and Marktrock in Belgium. They have performed for three US presidents and the former queen of the Netherlands, and have been featured on a variety of American and European television shows. They became the Friday night headliner at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1986 and continued in that role through 1991.

In addition to performing their own music—a blend of jump blues, funk, R&B and swing—the Kings served as the backup band for artists including Bromberg, Sam Bush, Was Not Was, Bonnie Raitt, John Cowan, Al Kooper, Francine Reed, The Coasters, Henry Paul, The Platters, The Drifters, Bo Diddley, Percy Sledge, Garth Brooks, Vince Gil, John Oats, Amy Grant, Johnny Swim, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Richie Furay and Michale Martin Murphy to name only a few.

In 1995, Daniels received a Master of Arts in History/Economic History at the University of Colorado at Boulder. From 1995 to 2000, he served as the executive director of the Swallow Hill Music Association, an influential roots, folk, and acoustic music school and concert organization. He began teaching in 2002 as an adjunct professor at Arapahoe Community College.[9]Following his tenure at Arapahoe, he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado, Denver. He is an assistant professor in the College of Arts & Media and served as the area head for the music business program. During his career in education Daniels won two “Excellence in Teaching” awards from CU’s College of Arts and Media and one from Arapahoe Community College.

Daniels was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in February 2010. He underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant via stem cells from his sister, Dr. Jane Moffet, and returned to recording, teaching and performing that fall. In 2012 he released Better Days, a solo album dedicated to "those who go through hard times." A return to roots music, it appeared on the national Americana charts.

As a songwriter, Daniels has collaborated with artists including Gary Nicholson, Al Kooper, and Bill Payne and his songs have appeared on albums by Hazel Miller and Tom Wasinger, among others. Daniels' music has been featured on the television show Men in Trees, and, as a commercial singer, he has worked on commercials for companies including McDonald's, Ford Motor Company, and Coors Beer.

Daniels was a co-nominee for a 2013 Grammy Award for Jumpin' Jazz Kids, a children's album he worked on with Al Jarreau, Hubert Laws and Dee Dee Bridgewater. That same year, Daniels was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, along with Judy Collins, The Serendipity Singers and Bob Lind.

In 2014 Daniels was asked to return to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival where he has served as the Master of Ceremonies for the past 10 years.

In 2015, Daniels released Funky to the Bone, which was critically acclaimed by international media outlets and blues and soul magazines including Downbeat and Roots Music Report.

In early 2018, Daniels was named the executive director of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame where he served until 2020 when COVID put a temporary halt to their activities. Daniels resumed teaching at the University of Colorado in 2020.

In 2021 Chris Daniels, Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee Hazel Miller and Dana March released What We Did an album that celebrated the work of Inner City Health for underserved medical needs of that community.

In 2024 Chris Daniels & The Kings w Freddi Gowdy released 40: Blues With Horns Volume II celebrating their 40th year including their ‘best of’ songs and a collection of new material. The album was accompanied by an evening of music at the Boulder Theater where the band got their start in 1984. Guests included, Hazel Miller, Sam Bush, Kenny Passarelli and former members of the band dating back to their founding.

REMOVE Paragraph #2 Tim Goodman of Southern Pacific

I appreciate your time and look forward to moving these updates to his page. PeterVonBass (talk) 19:52, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for your request above.

A few points....

1) Some of the material that you are looking to add seems to lack appropriate sourcing.

2) The awards that you are looking to add do not seem to be significant notable awards and their inclusion would seem non-encyclopaedic and promotional.

3) Text stating available on Amazon Prime and iTunes is blatantly promotional and inadmissible.

4) There are a number of exceptionally long lists (both in the current article and above) which seem WP:UNDUE and arguably an attempt to imply notability by association. For example, listing no less than 21 names and concluding the sentence with to name only a few is clearly beyond parody and purely promotional in intent. Similarly there is another list of 12 names and others. All of those lists need to be trimmed to a handful of names and others.

5) Stating that something is an award winning documentary is apparently promotional, especially when no sourcing is provided to back it up (and the award was presumably for the documentary maker, rather than the subject). Similarly, references to Aronshon and his (entirely unrelated) works seem to be an attempt to demonstrate notability by association.

Hopefully these notes are of assistance. The key points are that everything needs to be properly sourced, encyclopaedic, restricted to due coverage and non-promotional.

Regards, Axad12 (talk) 06:40, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

Those are strong points, and I appreciate you guidance Axad12. I have returned with sources and I am in agreement on removing any promotional language. In addition:

1) Sourcing -

a. For the end of the second paragraph title Early life and career: I propose the new copy as follows.

In 2018 Lee Aronshon, co-creator of Two And A Half Men and the Big Bang Theory filmed and released an documentary about the band titled, 40 Years In The Making: The Magic Music Movie.

Sources:

https://biff1.com/about/awards/2018-awards/%23:~:text=Congratulations%2520to%2520all%2520Winners&text=Music%2520Documentary:%252040%2520Years%2520in%2520the%2520Making:,Short%2520Film:%2520Watu%2520Wote%2520(All%2520of%2520Us)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/40_years_in_the_making_the_magic_music_movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7457716/

b. For the end of paragraph 9: He is an assistant professor in the College of Arts & Media and served as the area head for the music business program. During his career in education Daniels won two “Excellence in Teaching” awards from CU’s College of Arts and Media and one from Arapahoe Community College.

Sources:

https://news.coloradoacademy.org/chris-daniels-striving-for-excellence/

https://cmhof.org/inductees/chris-daniels/

c. For the last 3 paragraphs:

In early 2018, Daniels was named the executive director of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame where he served until 2020 when COVID put a temporary halt to their activities. Daniels resumed teaching at the University of Colorado in 2020.

Sources:

https://www.westword.com/music/chris-daniels-new-exec-director-of-colorado-music-hall-of-fame-9977291

https://www.dailycamera.com/2018/02/11/chris-daniels-musician-with-deep-boulder-roots-named-executive-director-of-colorado-music-hall-of-fame/

https://celebrityaccess.com/2018/02/12/chris-daniels-named-executive-director-colorado-music-hall-fame/

In 2021 Chris Daniels, Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee Hazel Miller and Dana March released What We Did an album that celebrated the work of Inner City Health for underserved medical needs of that community.

Sources:

https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/chris-daniels-hazel-miller-dana-marsh-friends-what-we-did-album-review/

https://cascadebluesassociation.org/chris-daniels-hazel-miller-dana-marsh-friends-what-we-did/

https://www.westword.com/music/chris-daniels-and-hazel-miller-team-up-on-new-album-12020323

In 2024 Chris Daniels & The Kings w Freddi Gowdy released 40: Blues With Horns Volume II celebrating their 40^th year including their ‘best of’ songs and a collection of new material. The album was accompanied by an evening of music at the Boulder Theater where the band got their start in 1984. Guests included, Hazel Miller, Sam Bush, Kenny Passarelli and former members of the band dating back to their founding.

Sources:

https://yellowscene.com/2024/03/23/spotlight-chris-daniels/

https://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/q-a-with-colorado-music-hall-of-famer-chris-daniels-celebrating-t

https://open.spotify.com/album/3UOyTi9wqMfaxJUSFkwYYW

https://www.soulandjazzandfunk.com/reviews/chris-daniels-and-the-kings-with-freddi-gowdy-40-blues-with-horns-volume-ii-moon-voyage-records/

2) Awards that do not seem to be significant notable awards and their inclusion would seem non-encyclopaedic and promotional: I hear you and I want to understand the hierarchy gradient of significant awards. Maybe if the encyclopedia included a person's human-impact for their contributions in the progression of arts or buisness, which one award is both, might that be of significance? Educational contributions and their positive impacts on the future? Or only dry facts. ie - He recorded this. He worked here. He lived here from then to then.

In addition, please point out other awards that do not reach notable significance and appear promotional.

3) I concur and the Amazon-iTunes sentence will be removed

4) I concur on the exceptionally long name lists: I purpose these truncated name lists: For Telluride: Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill, Victor Wooten, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, and others. For the backup band list: Percy Sledge, Bonnie Raitt, Bo Diddley, Garth Brooks, Amy Grant and others.

5) To remove promotional speak and noteablilty by association: I propose the following new copy: In 2018 Lee Aronshon filmed and released a documentary about the band titled, 40 Years In The Making: The Magic Music Movie.

I'm grateful for your assistance and look forward to your response. PeterVonBass (talk) 19:44, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

Peter,

Thanks for your note above.

With regard to point 2, I don't believe that awards for 'Excellence in Teaching' given by individual colleges can be significant enough to be information of encyclopaedic value (primarily because the scope of the award giving bodies is simply too small). That is all the more the case when the awards relate to activity which falls outside the field for which the article subject is notable. I'm a little confused by your suggestion that one of those awards relates to, in your words, both contributions in the progression of arts [and] business - or does that comment relate to a different award? (My earlier comment related specifically to the awards being added in the request above, I've not looked for anything currently within the article).

I broadly agree with the other points (and changes) that you have made above. I've not checked the sourcing as I'm currently somewhat busy off-wiki, although I note that Imdb (and presumably also Rotten Tomotoes, although I've never visited that site) is user-generated content and thus inadmissible. Also, the Spotify link seems to me inappropriate.

I'm going to leave this request open. Hopefully we can get some input from further volunteers on all of the points raised above and then we can see how things proceed.

Thanks again for your thoughtful and very constructive comments above.

Kind regards, Axad12 (talk) 06:26, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Axad12,

I appreciate what you've shared and can agree with your point about award giving bodies being too small, and we can exclude the 'Excellence in Teaching' award. I also understand what you mentioned about Imdb and other's being user-generated and inadmissible.

Thank you for your time and help.

Sincerely, PeterVonBass (talk) 22:57, 19 November 2024 (UTC)