Dan attended college at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania briefly before enlisting into the general Army band program. While assigned to the 10th Mountain Division Band at Ft. Drum, NY, Dan performed with their ceremonial, concert, rock, and jazz big bands, as well as small groups such as the jazz combo, dixieland band, and brass quintet. Dan was deployed with the unit to Kosovo in the spring of 2002 to perform for the soldiers and several small villages involved with the U.N. peacekeeping mission. As a trumpet player, Dan honored our country's fallen soldiers by playing "Taps" for approximately 200 military funerals and ceremonies. He received an honorable discharge in 2004, and immediately returned to Mansfield University to finish working on a Bachelor's degree in music.

While at Mansfield University, Dan studied trumpet under H. Michael Galloway and was the jazz ensemble lead trumpet, wind symphony principal trumpet, marching band soloist, and backed guest artists such as Chris Vadala, Ingrid Jensen, Denis DiBlasio, George Rabbai, Michael Davis, Ernie Krivda, and Dave Pietro. Dan was selected twice for the Pennsylvania State All-Collegiate Band festival and is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In the spring of 2007, he received a Bachelor's of Music in Trumpet Performance.

Dan is close to finishing a Master's Degree in Jazz Studies at the Univerity of North Texas, where he studied under Jay Saunders, Mike Steinel, and has taken lessons with Bobby Shew. He has performed on lead trumpet with the Two and Three O'Clock Lab Bands, the Zebras (music of Tower of Power), and is the current lead trumpet player for the world-renowned and Grammy-nominated One O'Clock Lab Band; backing up artists such as Lyle Mays, John Mosca, Wayne Bergeron, Denis DiBlasio, Tim Ries, and Bernard Fowler. He also performed with the band at the Guiness Jazz Festival in Cork, Ireland, on a radio and internet broadcasted show from the Bull's Head in London, and at the Jazz Educators' Network conference in New Orleans. Dan also directed the 4 and 7 O'Clock Lab Bands and was a Teaching Assistant for the Jazz Fundamentals II undergraduate class.

As a freelance musician of all styles in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area, he has performed with: Sol Kitchen, Urban Renewal, Bill Tillman Band, Bulletproof Brass, The Project Band, Dance Fuze party band, Hunter Sullivan Big Band, Rebel Alliance Jazz Orchestra, Alan Glasscock Jazz Orchestra, Lone Star Jazz Orchestra, The Equinox Jazz Orchestra, Jim Rigg's Official Texas Jazz Orchestra, Shelley Carrol/Brad Leali Big Band, and various classical church ensembles. He has performed as a guest artist with the Southeastern Oklahoma State Jazz Band and Green Acres Baptist Church Orchestra in Tyler, TX. Dan is found playing lead trumpet on the University of North Texas Two O'Clock Lab Band's album, "Two Too", a guest appearance on Backside Pick's album, "Higher Places", and lead trumpet on the One O'Clock Lab Band's album, "Lab 2010".