Blog Post #46: On Dan Greenleaf, from another Vermont-to-IC-pipeliner
When Mike Titlebaum, our jazz theory professor, emailed our class to say that Dan Greenleaf would be performing at our school on Saturday, March 7th, I thought the name rang a bell. I tried to think of where I’d heard the name before, even considering the possibility that I was thinking of Dickie Greenleaf from The Talented Mr. Ripley.
I stayed after class to ask Professor Titlebaum (or Mike, as our class likes to call him) about Greenleaf. He told me about “Live at Ford Hall”- Greenleaf’s senior recital that went so well, Greenleaf decided to release it as an album. He also mentioned how Greenleaf had been born with cerebral palsy. Without the physical capabilities to “shred” or use all the techniques other guitarists might, Greenleaf had created a new style of sound and guitar-playing adapted to himself. Professor Titlebaum said he found the style very convincing, both musically and philosophically.
Like myself, Greenleaf grew up in Vermont and attended Ithaca College for music. Curious to see a fellow Vermont-to-IC-pipeliner perform some live music, I added the recital to my calendar.
A Google search led me to a Seven Days article written by Chris Farnsworth. I learned that Greenleaf grew up in Waterbury. He learned to ski through Green Mountain Adaptive Sports. I found this point of connection endearing- I learned to ski at Cochran’s myself.
In the article, Farnsworth compared Greenleaf’s music to that of French composer Claude Debussy. “French composer Claude Debussy famously said ‘Music is the space between the notes.’ And in those dark spaces linger so many things: resonance, echo, reverb.”
As someone who’s studied classical piano for 12 years now, I have to agree with this. It’s not just the sounds that make music, but the spaces in between.
Sitting in Hockett Family Recital Hall, I read through the short program note. What caught my eye was the line on Greenleaf's desire to create “huge beautiful, meaningful shapes in music”. I couldn’t help but make another comparison, this time to the Russian composer Sergei Rachmoninoff. One of Rachmoninoff’s most characteristic traits was his ability to write incredibly long, lyrical melodic lines. Pianists spend their entire lives working to produce these huge shapes which Rachmaninoff put down on paper. And here was Greenleaf, a jazz guitarist in 2026, working towards a similar musical aesthetic.
These huge shapes were what made Greenleaf’s recital so compelling to me. Some of the songs started in a very minimal way- taking their sweet time to meander into larger sounds and impressive solos- before settling back down again, slowly, to the ethereality from which they came. Like a huge, song-long crescendo and decrescendo. Drew Martin, the saxophonist, created such smooth entrances I didn’t notice he was playing until he was already halfway into a crescendo that started from near-silence and rose to a sound that filled the recital hall. And this is saying something- in my two and a half years at IC, I’ve really only heard two or three people fill Hockett with sound.
During my time at Burlington High School, I had a poetry teacher named Tammie Ledoux-Moody. One day in class, Ms. Ledoux turned to me and said, “Laura, you have a very soft voice. It’s the type of voice that really makes people lean in and listen.” This is exactly how I’d describe Greenleaf’s more minimal, quiet sounds. They’re sounds that make the audience lean in and listen.
In the wake of the 2026 Winter Olympics, listening to Greenleaf play was like watching Alysa Liu skate. He played freely, in a way that resonated with himself. And from the audience perspective, hearing this from the stage was moving. It was like Greenleaf’s sound was saying, “This is me. Feel free to come and listen.” I think this is a lesson all musicians must learn at one point- to simply play the music that is convincing to yourself. Whether or not people like it isn’t really your concern.
I’ve made a few comparisons already from Rachmaninoff, to Ms. Ledoux’s words, to Alysa Liu. But I want to end on a quote from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a movie I watched recently. “The most beautiful things don’t ask for attention.” You sit patiently, for minutes, hours or years even, and eventually, those beautiful things will reveal themselves to you. That was Greenleaf’s music. A sound that crept its way into Hockett Family Recital Hall, and maybe even into some hearts (or at least mine).
If you want to learn more about Greenleaf, I’d recommend you check out his website.
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