Meet Daniel Austin. A man that has studied music his whole life. Upon his mother’s insistence ofpiano lessons at ten years old, Daniel studied classical music in a program that taught inner city kids. In fact, his music is what kept him busy during a time of gang violence and drugs in the late 80’s and early 90’s when they were at their worst in Los Angeles. “I grew up somewhat in that element, but I was so busy, I had no time to go down the path of drugs and gangs, although I know a lot of folks who did.” In the midst of so much violence around him, Daniel kept his head down and sights high and threw himself into the music he was just discovering. “I started to really get into music, when I discovered all of the great old record albums that my brother James had (he’s ten years older than me). He had played a little trumpet and he was a great music fan. He had everything from Edgar Winter, to the Carpenters, to Sly and the Family Stone, to Paliament/Funkadelic, to Miles Davis.” With influences in hand, Daniel got more interested in “his” kind of music, playing Jazz, soul, rock and hip-hop. His classical background served him well as he took the foundation and added element of it to his more contemporary sound. After graduating from UCLA he took his talent and started playing around LA with some of the best studio musicians there were. He worked with folks that had worked with “everyone” and their professionalism rubbed off. Now Daniel is stepping forward with the release of “ Confidence in You”, thirteen tracks of upfront sound that pulls its influences from the music Daniel grew up on. In songs like “Undermined” and the title track “Confidence in You” one can hear sounds of R&B, pop and jazz. In fact “Confidence in You” touches on these different genres with each song, but still manages to tell a story. “I think it’s hard to fit my music into any genre, but that may be a good thing.” And a good thing it is, Daniel Austin can cross over to into so many different sounds that it is hard to not like his music and Daniel has persevered through so much, it’s hard not to like him as a person.