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David Berger
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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David Berger Octet: I Had the Craziest Dream
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," ...
read moreDavid Berger Octet featuring Harry Allen and Joe Temperley: I Had The Craziest Dream: The Music of Harry Warren
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 ...
read moreDavid Berger & The Sultans of Swing at Birdland
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 ...
read moreDavid Berger and the Sultans of Swing: The Harlem Nutcracker
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 ...
read moreDavid Berger & The Sultans of Swing: Hindustan
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 ...
read moreDavid Berger & the Sultans of Swing: Hindustan
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 ...
read moreDavid Berger and the Sultans of Swing: Marlowe
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 ...
read moreDavid 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. ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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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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 ...
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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 ...
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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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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 ...
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