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David Berger

Jazz composer, arranger and conductor David Berger is recognized internationally as a leading authority on the music of Duke Ellington and the Swing Era. Conductor and arranger for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra from its inception in 1988 through 1994, Berger has transcribed more than 700 full scores of classic recordings including nearly 500 works by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

In 1996 Berger collaborated with choreographer Donald Byrd to create the Harlem Nutcracker, a full-length 2-hour dance piece that expands the Tchaikovsky/Ellington/Strayhorn score into an American classic. The 15-piece band assembled to play this show has stayed together and continues to play Mr. Berger’s music throughout the United States and Europe. The Sultans of Swing have just released their third CD.

Berger has written music for television, Broadway shows, including Sophisticated Ladies; films, including The Cotton Club and Brighton Beach Memoirs; dozens of singers, bands, orchestras and dance companies. In addition to Mr. Byrd, Berger maintains close, long-term working relationships with Wynton Marsalis and Quincy Jones.

David Berger's jazz compositions and arrangements and transcriptions are played by hundreds of bands every day all over the world. A seven-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, Berger resides in New York City where he teaches at the Juilliard School.

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285
Extended Analysis

David Berger Octet: I Had the Craziest Dream

Read "David Berger Octet: I Had the Craziest Dream" reviewed by Jack Bowers


David Berger Octet I Had the Craziest Dream Such Sweet Thunder 2008

Composer / arranger / scholar / historian / educator David Berger, who uses groups of various sizes to adorn his musical framework, has chosen an octet to record I Had the Craziest Dream, subtitled The Music of Harry Warren. If you're thinking “Harry who?," think instead “Chattanooga Choo-Choo," “Lulu's Back in Town," “There Will Never Be Another You," “At Last," ...

317
Album Review

David Berger Octet featuring Harry Allen and Joe Temperley: I Had The Craziest Dream: The Music of Harry Warren

Read "I Had The Craziest Dream: The Music of Harry Warren" reviewed by Michael Steinman


David Berger's credentials are wide-ranging and impeccable: transcribing 500 Ellington recordings, leading the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, teaching at the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard. I Had the Craziest Dream is precise, hot and lively, honoring Harry Warren, a deserving 20th-century popular composer less well known than Berlin, Gershwin, or Porter. In addition to the 12 songs on this CD, Warren created “You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me," “There Will Never Be Another You" and over two ...

234
Live Review

David Berger & The Sultans of Swing at Birdland

Read "David Berger & The Sultans of Swing at Birdland" reviewed by Budd Kopman


David Berger & The Sultans of Swing at BirdlandBirdlandNew York, NYSeptember 25, 2007 David Berger and his Sultans of Swing have a regular Tuesday gig at Birdland and recently have included vocalist Champian Fulton for some tunes in the set. Berger talked a bit about the music, and made the point that this band is not trying to recreate an historic style, but rather that this is the music he and ...

574
Album Review

David Berger and the Sultans of Swing: The Harlem Nutcracker

Read "The Harlem Nutcracker" reviewed by Budd Kopman


It is that time of year again, and David Berger's adaptation and extension of Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn's Harlem Nutcracker suite is one swinging way to enjoy music of this season. This release is a reissue of the original. The short story is that Berger, an expert on Ellington and a top notch transcriber, was asked to write ninety more minutes of music for a new show put together by the Donald Byrd Dance Foundation. The show toured ...

186
Album Review

David Berger & The Sultans of Swing: Hindustan

Read "Hindustan" reviewed by Elliott Simon


Recording a band in the studio during the peak of a tour can yield a session that reflects the synergy gained from repeated nights on the road. Hindustan is just such an occasion, capturing the breadth of this large, swinging aggregation on a varied program of standards and new music written especially for these players. The original opener, “Stompin' on a Riff, starts innocently enough as pianist Isaac Ben Ayala, bassist Dennis Irwin and drummer Jimmy Madison ...

162
Album Review

David Berger & the Sultans of Swing: Hindustan

Read "Hindustan" reviewed by Jack Bowers


David Berger not only leads a terrific band, he also has a wicked sense of humor. Hindustan, the fourth album by his intrepid Sultans of Swing, comes complete with a cover photo of camels being led by turbaned Bedouins across blazing desert sands as the sun sinks slowly in the west. So where was it recorded? In sweltering Malmo, Sweden, of course, during a Scandinavian tour last autumn.

Berger and the Sultans are throwbacks to a heady time when thousands ...

159
Album Review

David Berger and the Sultans of Swing: Marlowe

Read "Marlowe" reviewed by Jack Bowers


David Berger, an avowed admirer of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, writes, as Ellington and Strayhorn often did, music with a purpose, evocative themes that paint graphic sound pictures designed to summon a visceral response from his audience. And so it is with Berger's latest album, Marlowe, which consists of two suites--"Windows on the World," solemnizing the World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001, and its aftermath; and “Marlowe," consuming more than 38 of the album's nearly 62 minutes ...

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118

Performance / Tour

David Berger Jazz Orchestra with Freda Payne and Denzal Sinclaire at Dizzy's March 29

David Berger Jazz Orchestra with Freda Payne and Denzal Sinclaire at Dizzy's March 29

Source: Miller Wright & Associates

Debut Live Performance of the new CD, Sing Me A Love Song: Harry Warren's Undiscovered Standards.

Berger's big band and dynamic vocalists Freda Payne and Denzal Sinclaire bring to life long-lost songs from the archive of Hollywood composer Harry Warren, famous for 42nd Street, You'll Never Know, At Last, and hundreds of others. Lyrics by Paul Mendenhall and Ira Gershwin.

One night only, Monday, March 29, at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, West 60th St. and Broadway, NYC. ...

145

Performance / Tour

David Berger & the Sultans of Swing Announce 2008 Dates at Birdland!

David Berger & the Sultans of Swing Announce 2008 Dates at Birdland!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

David Berger & the Sultans of Swing, Featuring Vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton Announce Upcoming Dates at Birdland - as part of Berger's Tuesday Night Residency - Plus A Special New Year's Day/Night Performance, Featuring None Other Than Jon & Aria Hendricks! Tuesdays - January 1, 8, 15, 29, February 5, 19 and March 4, 11, 18 On the heels of his CD release, Champian, David Berger & The Sultans of Swing, featuring vocalist/composer Champian Fulton continue their ongoing engagement at Birdland. ...

77

TV / Film

Billy Crystal PBS Special

Billy Crystal PBS Special

Source: All About Jazz

This is a reminder that the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize honoring Billy Crystal will air on PBS Monday, November 12 at 9 PM (tonight!). Our band (David Berger & the Sultans of Swing) performed as the house band. This may be the swingingest awards show in decades--and also one of the funniest. Performing with us, besides Billy Crystal, were Robin Williams, Whoopie Goldberg, Danny DeVito, Rob Reiner, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Lovitz, Martin Short, Bob Costas, Barbara Walters and Robert ...

99

Performance / Tour

Champian Fulton With David Berger & the Sultans of Swing CD Release Performance at Birdland - September 18!

Champian Fulton With David Berger & the Sultans of Swing CD Release Performance at Birdland - September 18!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Special CD Release Performance at Birdland - September 18! 315 West 44th Street, NYC. 212-581-3080. Sets at 8:30 and 11 PM for Champian FEATURING Vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton With David Berger & the Sultans of Swing NEW RECORDING AVAILABLE ON SEPTEMBER 18 (on Such Sweet Thunder Records) “At 21, singer and pianist Champian Fulton has had quite a bit of experience. Raised in a family that revered jazz, she led a small band at age ...

82

Recording

Champian, Vocalist/Pianist Champian Fulton with David Berger & the Sultans of Swing

Champian, Vocalist/Pianist Champian Fulton with David Berger & the Sultans of Swing

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

NEW RECORDING AVAILABLE ON SEPTEMBER 18 (on Such Sweet Thunder Records) A recording for everyone who likes songs and singers. Fourteen new arrangements from the Great American Songbook sung by the hottest new singer on the scene today in her debut album accompanied by one of the premiere big bands in jazz. Romance, wit--always hip and swinging. Mr. Berger tells the story, “For a long time, I have wanted to make a vocal album in the tradition of ...

111

Event

David Berger & The Sultans of Swing Sell Out Birdland Two Weeks In a Row

David Berger & The Sultans of Swing Sell Out Birdland Two Weeks In a Row

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

DAVID BERGER & THE SULTANS OF SWING SELL OUT BIRDLAND TWO WEEKS IN A ROW Of Their Tuesday Night Birdland Residency Featuring The Legendary Jon Hendricks and Daughter Aria Hendricks

Don't miss them on January 9th & 16th!

David Berger and The Sultans of Swing Tuesday Night Birdland Residency Playing music from Hindustan, The Harlem Nutcracker, Ellington and more..

Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street, betw 8th & 9th avenues ...

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Music Industry

David Berger on Jazz & Pop

David Berger on Jazz & Pop

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

As I sit here about to embark on a new school year at the Juilliard School, where I teach, I would like to try to put the issue of jazz (America's indigenous art form) and its relationship to popular music into focus or at least reflect upon and sort out some facts and issues (musical and personal) that concern me.

From the 1920s through the 1940s, jazz and popular music shared the great American songbook. Everyone in America knew thousands ...

153

Event

Jon & Aria Hendricks to appear with David Berger & The Sultans of Swing for Four Weeks!

Jon & Aria Hendricks to appear with David Berger & The Sultans of Swing for Four Weeks!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

DAVID BERGER & THE SULTANS OF SWING'S Tuesday Night Birdland Residency To Feature The Legendary Jon Hendricks and Daughter Aria Hendricks on December 26th, January 2nd, 9th & 16th!

David Berger and The Sultans of Swing Tuesday Night Birdland Residency Playing music from Hindustan, The Harlem Nutcracker, Ellington and more..

Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street, betw 8th & 9th avenues. Call 212 581 3080 for reservations and information. Tickets ...

74

Event

David Berger on WNYC's Soundcheck Today, and at Birdland Every Tuesday

David Berger on WNYC's Soundcheck Today, and at Birdland Every Tuesday

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Please tune in to WNYC's Soundcheck today, Friday, December 15 to hear composer/bandleader/arranger/conductor David Berger being interviewed by host John Schaefer about The Harlem Nutcracker and David's weekly residency at Birdland! Schaefer will also be spinning tracks from recently reissued The Harlem Nutcracker. Friday, December 15 at 2:30 PM - at 93.9 FM or www.wnyc.org DAVID BERGER & THE SULTANS OF SWING The Harlem Nutcracker (Such Sweet Thunder, www.sultansofswing.com) REISSUE AVAILABLE ON NOVEMBER 21, ...

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Recording

David Berger celebrates the reissue of The Harlem Nutcracker at Birdland!

David Berger celebrates the reissue of The Harlem Nutcracker at Birdland!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

DAVID BERGER & THE SULTANS OF SWING The Harlem Nutcracker (Such Sweet Thunder, www.sultansofswing.com) REISSUE AVAILABLE ON NOVEMBER 21, 2006

No, nothing now can bring us down, No fear our faith destroy; Our hearts leap up, our souls say “yes!" Sing out in this season of joy! (From “Sing Out!" track 6 of The Harlem Nutcracker)

David Berger and The Sultans of Swing Tuesday ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

David Berger Octet: I...

Such Sweet Thunder
2009

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I Had The Craziest...

Such Sweet Thunder
2008

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Hindustan

Such Sweet Thunder
2006

buy

The Harlem Nutcracker

Such Sweet Thunder
2006

buy

Marlowe

Such Sweet Thunder
2004

buy

The Harlem Nutcracker

Such Sweet Thunder
2002

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