Żywieckie Suwakowanie
XX edition of the largest trombone and tuba
event in Poland
July 19-25, 2026
Jazz Trombonist/Educator Dante Luciani is currently Program Director of Instrumental Jazz Studies and Jazz Trombone professor at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. From 2001 to 2014, he conducted the award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band, winning Downbeat awards for College Big Band in 2006, 2007 and 2010. A collaboration with band leader Maria Schneider and the Concert Jazz Band won a Grammy award in 2002.
Dante has performed as lead trombonist/soloist with the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, the Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau Band, the Arturo Sandoval Big Band, Woody Herman's Thundering Herd, Elvis Costello, Benny Golson, Tom Harrell, Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Jr., Gloria Estefan and the South Florida Jazz Orchestra among others.
As a trombone soloist, Dante regularly tours Eastern Europe with his Jazz Quintet and has also performed in Istanbul, Turkey at the Nardis Jazz Club for the Istanbul Jazz Festival. He was twice featured as a soloist for the " Salsa Meets Jazz" series at the Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club. Dante is also a member of Ira Sullivan's Inter-outer Continental Quintet and has been featured with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra.
His recordings include sessions for Arturo Sandoval's CD entitled "Rhumba Palace" winning a Latin Grammy award in 2007. Dante was a featured guest with Polish jazz trumpet player Piotr Schmidt on the CD “Black Monolith” in 2011. He has also played lead and solo trombone on several 14 Jazz Orchestra’s recordings including their debut CD, “Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy”, reaching into the top 10 jazz recordings of 2016. In 2019, Dante recorded lead and solo trombone tracks for Jazz Trumpeter Brian Lynch’s CD “The Omni American Songbook” which won the 2020 Grammy award for best big band recording. Recent recordings include lead and solo work with the Stephen Guerra Big Band.
When in Poland, Professor Luciani is a regular clinician/performer at the Pulawy Summer Jazz Workshop in Pulawy, Poland, the Naples Jazz festival, The Chodież Jazz Workshop in Chodież, Poland and the Żywiec trombone festival in Żywiec Poland.