David Berkman (born December 28, 1958) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator.
Berkman grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, playing in house bands for visiting jazz musicians Sonny Stitt, Hank Crawford, and Carter Jefferson and established musicians living in New York but hailing from Cleveland Joe Lovano, Jamey Haddad, and Greg Bandy. He moved to New York City in 1985.
As a composer, Berkman was awarded the 2000 Doris Duke/Chamber Music America New Works Creation and Presentation Grant. [1] He is a recording artist whose recordings (six with Palmetto Records including his 2019 "Six of One", one each on Challenge Records, Smalls Live Records, Red Piano Records and his 2020 release on Without Records--"David Berkman plays music of John Coltrane and Pete Seeger") have appeared on numerous best records of the year critics' lists: The New York Times (Top 10 Records of 1998), the Village Voice (Top 10 Records of 1998), Down Beat (Best records of the 90s), JazzIz (Top 5 records of 1998), Jazz Times and others. Critic John Stevenson wrote in his 2000 review of Berkman's Leaving Home, "With Leaving Home, (Berkman) has ascended to a new height of creativity. Tracing the trajectory of mapped out by his earlier CD's we can see a greater level of melodic sophistication and more intense coalescing of compositional elements." [2] As a jazz clinician, Berkman was awarded the Homer Osborne Award from the Wichita Jazz Society and has performed and taught at numerous jazz camps, universities and conservatories around the United States, South America and Europe.
Berkman published three books with Sher Music Publishing: The Jazz Musician's Guide to Creative Practicing (2007), The Jazz Singer's Guidebook (2009) and The Jazz Harmony Book (2014). [3] He has played in many bands including, most importantly, says Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide to Jazz [4] those of Cecil McBee, whose 2003 CD Unspoken includes Berkman. [5] Berkman has performed with Tom Harrell and the Vanguard Orchestra and has performed with, recorded or arranged for numerous jazz musicians, including Sonny Stitt, Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Ray Drummond, Billy Hart, Dick Oatts, Tony Malaby, Chris Potter, Scott Wendholt, Lenny White, Scott Colley, Craig Handy, Steven Bernstein, Bill Stewart, Dave Stryker, David "Fathead" Newman, Hank Crawford, and Jane Monheit ) [6]
Now appearing more often as a bandleader, Berkman has performed solo and with his quartet, quintet and sextet at festivals and clubs in the United States, Europe and Japan, most recently at the North Sea Jazz Festival, [7] the Edinburgh Festival, [8] the Glasgow Jazz Festival, the Belfast Festival and the Cork Festival. Recent tours include clubs and concert performances in Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, São Paulo, Japan and around the United States. Recent projects include piano/trumpet duo performances with Dave Douglas, at the 2006 Jazz Composers Symposium in Tampa, Florida, and the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Convention in Bangkok, [9] and with Tom Harrell in Italy, as well as the cooperatively-led New York Standards Quartet (with Tim Armacost, Daiki Yasukagawa and Gene Jackson). NYSQ has 7 recordings out, the last three on London based Whirlwind Recordings and recently completed their 14th annual Japanese tour. [10] Old Friends and New Friends on Palmetto Records was released May 5, 2015 and features Brian Blade on drums, Linda May Han Oh on bass, and Dayna Stephens, Adam Kolker, and Billy Drewes on saxophones. Berkman's latest, Six of One, was released on Palmetto Records April 5, 2019, and features Dayna Stephens, Adam Kolker, Billy Drewes and Tim Armacost on saxophones, clarinets and EWI, Chris Lightcap on bass and Kenneth Salters on drums.
Berkman is a tenured professor at Queens College in New York City and is a visiting professor at the Prince Claus Conservatoire in Groningen, the Netherlands. [11]
John Scofield, sometimes referred to as "Sco", is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in the band of Miles Davis, and has toured and recorded with many prominent jazz artists, including saxophonists Eddie Harris, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson and Joe Lovano; keyboardists George Duke, Joey DeFrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Larry Goldings and Robert Glasper; fellow guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Pat Martino and Bill Frisell; bassists Marc Johnson and Jaco Pastorius; and drummer Billy Cobham and Dennis Chambers. Outside the world of jazz, he has collaborated with Phil Lesh, Mavis Staples, John Mayer, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Gov’t Mule.
Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist.
David “Dave” Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
Joseph Salvatore Lovano is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. He has earned a Grammy Award and several mentions on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls. His wife, with whom he records and performs, is singer Judi Silvano. Lovano was a longtime member of drummer Paul Motian‘s trio with guitarist Bill Frisell.
Mike Holober is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator.
Tom Harrell is an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and arranger. Voted Trumpeter of the Year of 2018 by Jazz Journalists Association, Harrell has won awards and grants throughout his career, including multiple Trumpeter of the Year awards from Down Beat magazine, SESAC Jazz Award, BMI Composers Award, and Prix Oscar du Jazz. He received a Grammy Award nomination for his big band album, Time's Mirror.
Ben Allison is an American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator. In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded the non-profit Jazz Composers Collective and served as its Artistic Director for twelve years. Allison is an adjunct professor at New School University and serves on the board of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, where he serves as President.
Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King.
John Clark is an American jazz horn player and composer. In Allmusic, Clark is described as "possibly the most fluent jazz French horn soloist since the great Julius Watkins in the 1950s."
Mitchel Forman is a jazz and fusion keyboard player.
Cameron Langdon Brown is an American jazz double bassist known for his association with the Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet.
Steve Wilson is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, who is best known in the musical community as a flutist and an alto and soprano saxophonist. He also plays the clarinet and the piccolo. Wilson performs on many different instruments and has performed and recorded on over twenty-five albums. His interests include folk, jazz, classical, world music, and experimental music. Wilson is currently on the faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. He was elected as an American Champion by the National Flute Association. Wilson has maintained a busy career working as a session musician, and has contributed to many musicians of note both in the recording studios, but as a sideman on tours. Over the years he has participated in engagements with several musical ensembles, as well as his own solo efforts.
Steve Cardenas is a guitarist who began his career in Kansas City, Missouri and has been part of the New York City jazz community since 1995.
Village Rhythm is a studio album by the American jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano recorded in 1988 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.
Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard is a live album by the American jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1994 and 1995 and released on the Blue Note label.
Timothy M. Ries is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate/conservatory level. Ries is in his sixteenth year as a professor of jazz studies at the University of Toronto. His universe of work as composer, arranger, and instrumentalist ranges from rock to jazz to classical to experimental to ethno to fusions of respective genres thereof. His notable works with wide popularity include The Rolling Stones Project, a culmination of jazz arrangements of music by the Stones produced on two albums, the first in 2005 and the second in 2008.
Ohad Talmor is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, conductor and arranger.
Russ Lossing is an American jazz pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, educator, scholar.
Gerald Leon Cannon is an American jazz double bassist and visual artist.
Tim Armacost is an American jazz musician.