Panama native Danilo Pérez discovered music at the tender age of 3, under the watchful eye of his musician father, and entered the conservatory at 10. He would later go on to study at Berklee in Boston, all the while taking his first steps onstage with the likes of Jon Hendricks and Terence Blanchard. A highly sought-after collaborator since the late 1980s, he made his bones in ensembles led by Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis and most recently, Wayne Shorter. Alongside that, the pianist has enjoyed a 20-year career as a solo artist, melding his understanding of Latin American, jazz and classical traditions with his sharply-honed improvisational sensibility.