Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa -- ‘the idea that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that all knowledge is derived from experience and perception’ --  excites and invites listeners into their soundspace with music generated through connection and without pre-conceived notion. Their chemistry as collaborators shines through each members’ unique compositional voice, letting audiences in on a culmination of years of friendship and commitment to pushing the music to its highest point.

Tabula Rasa features Devin Daniels on alto saxophone, Joey Curreri on trumpet, Jonathan Paik on piano, Dario Bizio on bass, and Mark Valdes on drums. As individual artists, they are all active and emerging voices in both the New York and Los Angeles music scenes.

Alto saxophonist Devin Daniels stands out as one of the most unique and versatile voices to emerge from LA’s rapidly evolving creative music landscape. Daniels has been invited to perform with bands led by Gerald Clayton, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, John Beasley, Sam Barsh and Jamael Dean. In 2023, the great Herbie Hancock invited Devin to join him alongside jazz legends Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Terence Blanchard, Chris Potter and LA-royalty, Kamasi Washington in a performance at the Hollywood Bowl honoring the late iconic saxophonist, Wayne Shorter. Following this performance, Hancock invited Daniels to join his band again, this time for a month-long US tour in the Spring of 2024.

Joey Curreri is a jazz trumpeter and composer from Los Angeles, California currently based in New York City. Curreri’s unique artistic outlook stems from the foundations in the trumpet tradition learned from his mentors, jazz luminaries Brian Lynch and Ingrid Jensen, whose creative inspiration has led Joey to compose music that looks to go beyond the trumpet, generating excitement, harmony, and balance within the orchestration of the small ensemble. As a working musician in New York, Joey has performed at the marquis venues with his own band and music, as well as a side man.

Jonathan Paik is a Los Angeles-born, New York-based pianist and improvisor/composer. Hailed as an exciting new voice on the piano, he has recorded or performed with the likes of David Binney, Alfredo Colon, Joe Morris, and Charles Downs. Jonathan’s playing has been heard in many of NYC’s most important spaces for creative music, including The Jazz Gallery, Close Up, IBeam, and Downtown Music Gallery. In 2025, Jonathan made his bandleader debut at The Jazz Gallery, presenting his collaborative quartet Fugitive. Artistically, Jonathan seeks to push the possibilities of piano-playing while unconditionally uplifting the music and people around him.

Dario Bizio is a bassist, improviser, and singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA. Having grown up in the diverse musical community of Los Angeles, he grew up loving and playing various genres on electric and upright bass. After graduating from USC in 2023 he began working as the touring bassist for Icelandic artist Laufey, with whom he took part in a world tour from 2023-2024. While continuing to perform and record as a freelancer in Los Angeles, Dario also writes and records music for voice and bass and has performed locally as a soloist.

Mark Valdes is a drummer, educator, and composer based in Los Angeles who has performed at venues and festivals across the world sharing the stage with world-class artists such as Tim Berne, Theo Bleckmann, John Daversa, Poncho Sanchez, Bob Mintzer, Barbara Morrison, Gordon Goodwin, Wayne Bergeron, and Vardan Ovsepian. Some notable venues/events include The Panama Jazz Festival, Jordan Hall, The Monterey Jazz Festival, The Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Central Avenue Jazz Festival, and The Oasis Music Festival in Palm Springs, CA.

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