Singer Dan Ferris has found a way to broaden the boundaries of vocal jazz by tapping into multiple music styles to deliver a fresh approach to jazz and Songbook standards.

Ferris is co-founder and editor of Chicago Jazz Magazine, and draws upon his knowledge of jazz (and other music genres), as well as history, pop culture and the arts to create unique arrangements and renditions. A first-rate interpreter of a lyric, Ferris employs a four-octave range and sustain that creates phrasing options possessed by few singers. Whether rendering a ballad or tearing off an R&B tune, the result is a music product that is accessible and transgenerational.

His current CD, Now Playing, features music from movies and television shows presented with a jazz sensibility. True to his trademark, Ferris rearranges songs—rips them apart and reassembles them, adding and rewriting lyrics, building lyrical and musical themes, and borrowing elements from rock, R&B and even classical styles.

Dan Ferris has performed at most of Chicago’s jazz clubs and at top venues, including the Chicago, St. Charles and Deer Park Jazz Festivals, Pritzker Pavilion, Taste of Chicago, Festa Italiana, and several major hotels, including a two-year stint at the Peninsula, the number-one hotel in North America.