Bio

Saxophonist Danny Healy learnt his craft while training at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.  During this time he was given the opportunity to learn from and gig with some of the Australian Jazz greats, including bassist Geoff Kluke and pianists Tony Gould and Bob Sedergreen. Danny has a wide range of musical influences from Dexter Gordon to Stravinsky and is both a dedicated instrumentalist and composer.

A nomadic multi-woodwind instrumentalist, he has spent the majority of the last decade living and working abroad as a musician.  This lifestyle allowed him to reside in Shanghai, making a strong imprint into the music scene there, working at well known clubs including Club JZ and CJW. Healy spent time touring parts of the UK where he was based in the Birmingham Jazz scene. On returning to Australia, he worked in and around Melbourne at various music venues prior to moving to Hobart where he worked as a professional musician.

Healy has performed as a solo artist as well as part of projects for the Mona Foma (MOFO) Festival in Tasmania. His own project, titled 'Duke Deconstructed' was commissioned for the synaesthasia event at MONA and continues to evolve to this day. For another MOFO, Healy spent a series of days playing under and on Bridges around Hobart for 'The Bridge - a tribute to Sonny Rollins' as well as performing new arrangements of Rollins tunes with his trio.

In 2013 Danny Healy toured and recorded with the Tom Vincent Quartet. He released both his Trio Album and a Live recording of ‘Duke Deconstructed’ in July of that year and also toured with The Violent Femmes in late December 

After a further three year adventure, living and performing in China and Vietnam, he returned to Hobart. Since this return he rekindled musical relationships and formed a series of new projects, mainly concentrating on Jazz from the 1920's - 50's.

Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic, which brought him back to Tasmania, Healy spent time in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, playing with local musicians and performing in Yerevan, T'bilisi and Moscow.

During 2022 he spent the majority of the year as Composer and Performer-in-residence, compiling and performing over 700 compositions for his BY HAND Project at MONA.