Artist Profile: Crispin
Heart startin', foot
stompin', faith buildin', hand clappin', church rockin',
in yo' face with the sound of grace - funky music fo' yo' soul!
For the past 8 years Crispin has been reaching the hearts of people through
their unique musical style that unites funk, jazz, and neo-soul. DiSilva, leader
of Crispin, played on the professional jazz scene for a number of years before
getting Crispin together, and has worked with such artists as Alison Krauss,
James Taylor, and B.B. King. All of which has brought a wide range of musical
styles that synthesize on the stage with Crispin.
Crispin can get an audience on its feet with ease, and despite the Christian
slant and theological message, the band has been invited to play on secular
stages and at annual music festivals around the country. Currently on the cusp
of a new CD release, for which Crispin fans have been waiting for over two
years, the band has had little time for anything else but touring. Crowd
favorites include "Fishers of Men," and the best renditions of "I'll Fly Away"
and "When The Saints Go Marching In" this side of New Orleans.
Daniel diSilva is a poet, an athlete, a scholar, a woodworker, an administrator,
and a composite musician, all rolled into one. The early years of his
professional career took him around the world as a musician on tour with bands
and artists of wide-ranging styles from Celtic with fiddler Natalie MacMaster
and The Chieftains, to Jazz with Joseph Vincelli and Joe McBride, to Folk with
James Taylor, Mark O'Connor and Alison Krauss, and Blues with B.B King. After an
impressive career in the music industry, he felt called to take a sabbatical to
learn the art of woodworking and returned to school. While earning a B.A. in
Literature from the University of Dallas, Daniel began writing songs and poetry
about a deepening intimacy with Jesus and Mary that would later become the music
of Crispin, the Catholic Funk Band. By the release of Crsipin's second CD,
Psalmba, all of Catholic Contemporary Music began taking a whole new direction
lead by the groundbreaking (and some would say backbreaking) work of this band,
which has performed over 100 concerts every year since their first show on Dec
8th, 1998. During the seven years spent on the road with Crispin, Daniel cut his
teeth as a speaker, addressing teens around the globe (in Spanish and English)
about abstinence and chastity using his firm grasp of John Paul II's Theology of
the Body. These days, while continuing his work with Crispin (a new CD is due
out in Spring 2006), and maitaining a rigourous speaking schedule, Daniel has
been tapped to compose musical scores for various productions including a
musical presentation of the Theology of the Body featuring renowned theologian
Christopher West. A daily runner wherever he is, Daniel prefers the trails along
the Trinity River in Fort Worth Texas and calls that city his home. From there
he has embarked on his newest project for the Kingdom, Springtime Productions, a
non-profit organization that helps to support speakers and artists and their
work to enrich the culture on the level of the family.