Joey Berkley
Tenor Saxophone
Composer
Arranger
Recording Artist
Educator…
…migrating south from Toronto, Canada in 1978, Joey Berkley immersed himself in the competitive New York City jazz scene. The musician benefited from his experiences in Manhattan, and maintains that these early years of struggling were not only necessary, but also crucial to his musical development. In fact, his CD that was released in 1999 and marks his debut as the bandleader of the Joey Berkley Quartet, is aptly titled Made in NYC. The disc, which features many of Joey’s original compositions, came out on A- Records.
Both as a freelance musician on the NYC music scene or with his own groups including The Joey Berkley Quartet, Joey has performed in many of the prestigious venues past and present- Birdland, The Village Gate, The Apollo, Radio City Music Hall and the Bottom Line.
In 2002 Joey co-founded the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (WJO). As a member of this renowned line up of musicians from 2002 to 2007 Joey also served as its Artistic and Educational Director.
Mouthpiecemusic LLC was formed by Joey in 2005 incorporating all of Mr. Berkley’s musical activities. Whether sharing his knowledge with a student, recording his music or frequenting the club and concert circuit with his various groups, Joey’s talent has warranted fabulous reviews from The Jazz Times to The New York Times.
Read moreTags
Album Review
- Moving Forward by Troy Dostert
- More 'n Four by Mark F. Turner
Multiple Reviews
Read more articlesPrimary Instrument
Saxophone, tenor
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
I am an honour's graduate from the Jazz Performance
program at
Humber College in Toronto
Canada. After graduation in 1979 I moved to NYC to study
with Joe Allard and
Eddie Daniels. At the
same time I also enrolled in the toughest school of all- the
New York City
"music scene". Now in 2017,
I am still trying to graduate!
“As a teacher I believe in trying to develop a
discipline in each
musician
that focuses on mastering
the fundamentals. From beginner to advanced, the musician
maintains this
endeavor in the overall
pursuit of excellence-which is never-ending. I feel that the
mastery of good
technique – tone, finger
execution, reading and theory – and the search of
always trying to find
ways
to improve are essential to
expressing artistry whether the music is classical, jazz or
rock ‘n
roll.”
PRIVATE TEACHING
Embouchure: This development is CRUCIAL. It affects
everything-
timbre, intonation, rhythm
etc.
Fingers: Fast or slow, moving from note to note(s) it
has to be
precise-in any style of
music.
Reading: In order to become a good independent
reader you must
understand the
mathematical relationships in music i.e. counting, sub-
dividing, beat/bar
recognition, time signatures
etc. This applies to all music-Classical, Jazz, Funk, Latin etc.
Theory: All musicians must have knowledge of music
theory. What
you are playing sounds
better if you understand why.
Jazz Improvisation: A balance of theory- based
fundamentals and
listening. This includes
transcribing and how to apply it. Also, interpretation of melody
and stylistic
differences in
jazz.