Steve Dancz worked as a record producer and A & R director during the years he was based in Los Angeles and composed and conducted orchestral scores for television ("Designing Women") and motion pictures ("Grim Prairie Tales" starring James Earl Jones).  He studied film scoring with master composer Earl Hagen (“Andy of Mayberry,” “I Spy,” “Mod Squad”).  Steve has composed and produced numerous original scores for National Geographic Films, many of which have aired internationally as part of the National Geographic "Explorer" television series.  Dancz’s most recent work with The Geographic was the PBS Special “Inside Mecca.”  Four recent scores, “The Raising of the Hunley,” "The Filmmakers," "Africa's Dinosaur Giants" and "Great White : Deep Trouble" are available on Home Video/DVD from the National Geographic Society.

Steve began his professional career at the age of fifteen and by his twenty-first birthday was performing extensively in Europe, the Soviet Union, Japan, The People's Republic of China, Africa and South America.  He has studied piano with Harold Danko, Tom Ferguson and Monty Alexander.  A recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts grant, he has performed and/or recorded with The Chieftains, Eddie Harris, Kevin Mahogany, Joe Lovano, Bill Cosby, Dizzy Gillespie, Clint Holmes, Don Menza, Allen Vizutti, Willie Thomas, Rich Matteson, Gus Mancusco, Martin Taylor, John Pattitucci, Paulino de Costa, and Clark Terry. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), the Vienne Jazz Festival (France), The Brussels Conservatory of Music (Belgium), Tocar la Vida (Argentina) and the World Festival of Sacred Music (India) at the request of His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama.  link to article

Mr. Dancz currently directs the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Georgia.