Puget Sounds Piano School offers comprehensive individual and group piano lessons in historic downtown Issaquah.
We are dedicated to coaching pianists of all ages and levels to enjoy playing as much as we do.
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Danny Kolke
Professional Jazz Pianist, Music Educator & Jazz Entrepreneur
Danny Kolke is a well known Jazz musician in the Pacific Northwest since his first album release in 1991. He is known for his aggressive technique, passionate voicings and hard swinging blues and gospel feel. "If you like trio’s like those of Oscar Peterson and Gene Harris, you are going to like Danny Kolke's trio," says Jim Wilke of KNKX radio & Jazz After Hours, Public Radio International.
Danny currently has four CD’s on Pony Boy Records available at Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and wherever music is sold. His most recent CD, “When Your Smiling” released in 2021, is a hard swinging traditional jazz trio and a must have to any Jazz fan’s collection. Danny’s other recordings include “Sunday Nights, Live at Boxley’s” and “A New Meaning” and "Danny Kolke Trio + Pete Christlieb".
As the son of a Baptist Minister, Danny grew up playing in church. At fourteen he became the regular church pianist and developed a large repertoire of traditional hymns. Currently he is the worship music director at Cascade Covenant Church in North Bend where he and his family attend. Of course the music is more contemporary but he slips in some more traditional gospel riffs, traditional hymns and jazz chords whenever he can.
Danny has been teaching Jazz and contemporary music for 20 years, and his approach is customized to each student using his own method, exercises, and techniques. Danny's students learn about Jazz, Blues and Contemporary music theory, composition, arranging, improvisation, ear training and transcription, and eventually evolving and developing their own exercises to keep playing the piano fun, and challenging with each layer of advancement.
In addition to teaching and playing jazz, Danny is also known as a leader and innovator in the Pacific Northwest Jazz scene. In 2009, he founded Boxleys jazz club, clearly the “Best Jazz Club in North Bend Washington”. Boxleys became known around the world, becoming ranked as one of the best Jazz clubs in the world according to Downbeat Magazine. In 2010, Danny founded the Boxley Music Fund (now JazzClubsNW), a nonprofit 501c3 based organization committed to helping support live music performance and Jazz education. In 2012, he founded the North Bend Jazz Walk and in 2013, the North Bend Blues Walk. Both events feature local and regional artists performing in restaurants, a movie theatre, cafe’s, coffee shops, retail stores, car dealerships, etc. all turned into venues for the night. Hundreds of musicians have performed at these festivals and thousands upon thousands have attended over the last several years having a tremendous impact on the community and musicians. These festivals are still in operation and largely organized by volunteers.
