Dan leads groups such as Four by Four, an octet merging jazz quartet and string quartet, as well as Circuit Kisser, an electronic power quartet fusing jazz harmonies with synths. With vocalist Martina DaSilva, he co-founded ChimyTina, a bass-and-vocal duo reimagining jazz standards, folk songs, and pop. Their holiday album, A Very ChimyTina Christmas, earned acclaim from Rolling Stone, NPR, and The New York Times. Their latest release, Constellations, was featured in Downbeat Magazine.

He began playing bass at age three, utilizing a half-size cello strung with bass guitar strings. Dan received his master's and bachelor's degree in jazz studies from The Juilliard School studying under Ron Carter. Wynton Marsalis once publicly referred to Dan as, "a young star of jazz," and considers him to be one of the most serious musicians of his generation. He received his first Grammy recognition as a member of the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra, winning for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album at the 65th Grammy Awards.

His experiences in scoring introduced him to the world of sound design and synthesizers. Dan currently owns over 60 analog synthesizers, new and old, and is a member of 8Dio’s sound design team. He regularly serves as an on-screen personality in demos and tutorials for their revolutionary program, Soundpaint. In addition, he has worked extensively for Korg and ASM Hydrasynth.