David Berkman
Encyclopedia
David Berkman, born December 28, 1958 is a jazz pianist, composer
, arranger
and educator. Berkman came of age in Cleveland, Ohio
playing in house bands for visiting jazz greats Sonny Stitt
, Hank Crawford
and Carter Jefferson
and local heroes Joe Lovano
, Jamey Haddad
and Greg Bandy. After moving to New York City
in 1985, David Berkman has been involved in the jazz community there.
As a composer, Berkman was awarded the 2000 Doris Duke/Chamber Music America New Works Creation and Presentation Grant. He is a recording artist whose 4 Palmetto recordings have appeared on numerous best records of the year critic's lists: the New York Times (Top 10 Records of 1998), the Village Voice (Top 10 Records of 1998) , Downbeat (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..." 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 two books with Sher Music Publishing: The Jazz Musician’s Guide to Creative Practicing (2007) and The Jazz Singer's Guidebook (2009). He has played in many bands including, most importantly, says Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide to Jazz those of Cecil McBee
whose 2003 CD "Unspoken" includes Berkman. Berkman has performed with Tom Harrell and the Vanguard Orchestra and has performed with, recorded or arranged for numerous jazz luminaries, 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
)
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 Festival, the Edinburgh Festival (http://content.yudu.com/Library/A15srv/ThreeWeeksinEdinburg/resources/22.htm), The Glasgow 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 (2006 Jazz Composers Symposium in Tampa Florida and the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Convention in Bangkok source-http://www.trumpetguild.org/2005conference/wed/212.html) and Tom Harrell
(Italy) as well as the cooperatively-led New York Standards Quartet (with Tim Armacost, Yosuke Inoue and Gene Jackson) (http://nysq.org).
Berkman is an assistant professor in the Queens College Jazz Masters Program in New York and is a visiting professor at the Prince Claus Conservatory in Groningen, the Netherlands.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
and educator. Berkman came of age in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
playing in house bands for visiting jazz greats Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
, Hank Crawford
Hank Crawford
Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. was an American R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, soul jazz alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter...
and Carter Jefferson
Carter Jefferson
Carter Jefferson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Jefferson played clarinet and alto saxophone early in his career, playing in the backing bands for The Temptations, The Supremes, and Little Richard in the 1960s. In 1971, he entered New York University, and played with Mongo Santamaría and...
and local heroes Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
, Jamey Haddad
Jamey Haddad
Jamey George Haddad is an American percussionist working primarily in the fields of jazz and world music, and specializing in hand drums.-Biography:...
and Greg Bandy. After moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1985, David Berkman has been involved in the jazz community there.
As a composer, Berkman was awarded the 2000 Doris Duke/Chamber Music America New Works Creation and Presentation Grant. He is a recording artist whose 4 Palmetto recordings have appeared on numerous best records of the year critic's lists: the New York Times (Top 10 Records of 1998), the Village Voice (Top 10 Records of 1998) , Downbeat (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..." 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 two books with Sher Music Publishing: The Jazz Musician’s Guide to Creative Practicing (2007) and The Jazz Singer's Guidebook (2009). He has played in many bands including, most importantly, says Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide to Jazz those of Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee is an American post bop jazz bassist, described by the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz as "a full-toned bassist who creates rich, singing phrases in a wide range of contemporary jazz contexts." Allmusic called him "One of post-bop's most advanced and versatile bassists".-Biography:McBee...
whose 2003 CD "Unspoken" includes Berkman. Berkman has performed with Tom Harrell and the Vanguard Orchestra and has performed with, recorded or arranged for numerous jazz luminaries, including Sonny Stitt, Brian Blade
Brian Blade
Brian Blade in Shreveport, Louisiana is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter.-Early years:...
, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas
Dave Douglas (trumpeter)
Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter and composer whose music derives from many non-jazz musical styles, including classical music, folk music from European countries and Klezmer. He has been a member of the experimental big band Orange Then Blue...
, Ray Drummond
Ray Drummond
Ray Drummond is a jazz bassist and teacher. He also has an MBA from Stanford University, hence his linkage to the Stanford Jazz Workshop...
, Billy Hart
Billy Hart
William "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
, Dick Oatts
Dick Oatts
Richard "Dick" Oatts is a jazz saxophonist from Jefferson, Iowa. He became interested in saxophone due to his father Jack Oatts. To this day he still plays on the same Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone his father gave to him. He began his professional career in Minneapolis in 1972 and in 1977 he joined...
, Tony Malaby
Tony Malaby
Tony Malaby is a post-bop jazz tenor saxophonist. Malaby moved to New York City in 1995 and has played with several notable jazz groups, including Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, Mark Helias’s Open Loose, Fred Hersch’s Trio + 2 and Walt Whitman...
, Chris Potter
Chris Potter (jazz saxophonist)
Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Potter spent most of his childhood in Columbia, South Carolina where his mother taught psychology at the University of South Carolina...
, Scott Wendholt, Lenny White
Lenny White
Leonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...
, Scott Colley
Scott Colley
Scott Colley is an American jazz bassist and Composer.Scott has performed extensively in bands led by: Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Andrew Hill, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Pat Metheny, Carmen McRae, Edward Simon, Adam Rogers, Brian Blade, David Binney, Antonio Sanchez, Kenny Werner...
, Craig Handy
Craig Handy
Craig Mitchell Handy is an American post-bop tenor saxophonist.Born in Oakland, California, Handy attended North Texas State University from 1981 to 1984, and following this played with Art Blakey, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Haynes, Abdullah Ibrahim, Elvin Jones, Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, George...
, Steven Bernstein, Bill Stewart
Bill Stewart (musician)
William Harris "Bill" Stewart is an American jazz drummer. Stewart is a versatile player who has performed with a broad array of musicians, from Maceo Parker to Jim Hall...
, Dave Stryker
Dave Stryker
Dave Stryker is an American jazz guitarist. He has 21 CD’s as a leader to date, and has been a featured sideman with Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff, and Kevin Mahogany, among others...
, David "Fathead" Newman, Hank Crawford, and Jane Monheit
Jane Monheit
Jane Monheit is a jazz and adult contemporary vocalist for Concord Records. She has collaborated with artists such as Michael Bublé, Ivan Lins, Terence Blanchard and Tom Harrell, and has received Grammy nominations for two of her recordings.-Early life:Jane Monheit was raised in Oakdale, New York...
)
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 Festival, the Edinburgh Festival (http://content.yudu.com/Library/A15srv/ThreeWeeksinEdinburg/resources/22.htm), The Glasgow 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 (2006 Jazz Composers Symposium in Tampa Florida and the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Convention in Bangkok source-http://www.trumpetguild.org/2005conference/wed/212.html) and Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell
Tom Harrell is a renowned American post-bop jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and arranger.-Biography:Tom Harrell was born in Urbana, Illinois but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of five. He started playing trumpet at eight and within five years, started playing gigs with...
(Italy) as well as the cooperatively-led New York Standards Quartet (with Tim Armacost, Yosuke Inoue and Gene Jackson) (http://nysq.org).
Berkman is an assistant professor in the Queens College Jazz Masters Program in New York and is a visiting professor at the Prince Claus Conservatory in Groningen, the Netherlands.