Danny Kastner

Pianist • Composer • Producer • Entrepreneur | Los Angeles, CA

Danny Kastner is a versatile pianist, award-winning composer, producer, and creative entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. With a dynamic career that bridges jazz, pop, film, and social activism, Kastner has built a reputation for collaboration, innovation, and musical excellence.

As a producer and songwriter, he has worked with a diverse roster of artists including Autumn Rowe, Espa, Alessandra Grace, Tkay Maidza, Nellie McKay, Julia Price, Rimini Roudette, Sons of Serendip, and Kiah Victoria. His ongoing work with Nellie McKay includes two forthcoming studio projects.

A skilled live performer, Kastner tours as a professional keyboardist with the Kiefer Sutherland Band and performs regularly in the Los Angeles jazz scene as a member of Jazz Punks. Their debut album spent seven weeks in the top four of the CMJ Jazz Radio charts, including multiple weeks at the #1 position.

As a composer, Kastner is a two-time recipient of both the BMI Composition Award and the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award, solidifying his place among the most respected voices in contemporary composition.

In the world of jazz history, Kastner is a producer and co-founder of the Weather Report Legacy Project, created to honor the legendary jazz fusion band Weather Report. In collaboration with Tony Zawinul (son of the late Joe Zawinul), he is producing the documentary This is This, directed by Zawinul and focused on the band’s groundbreaking legacy.

Beyond music, Kastner is a Founding Partner and Creative Director of the Milt Olin Foundation, which leads a global initiative to end distracted driving through its #HandsOff Pledge campaign—combining advocacy with digital innovation to promote safer roads.