Sounds of Berklee: Recent Episodes
Berklee College of Music
Listen to the stars of tomorrow…today, as well as Berklee faculty members, alumni, and a few legendary artists, coming to the college as visiting artists.
Goose’s live act attracts a devoted following—and the band's studio work highlights the sharp songs that spark their legendary jams. So on this summer edition of the podcast, we're exploring both sides of the Goose experience, from the studio to the stage, and hearing from the band as well as their fans along the way.Episode credits:Produced, engineered, and edited by John MirisolaCoproduced by Bryan ParysTheme music by Sleeping LionMedia excerpted (all songs by Goose, available at goosetheband.bandcamp.com):"The Whales" and "Feel It Now" from '2023/07/06 Thompson's Point, Portland, ME'"Hungersite" from 'Live at the Salt Shed'"Dripfield," "Arrow," "Honeybee," and "Hot Tea" from 'Dripfield'Enjoy the show? Have thoughts or questions for the Sounds of Berklee team? Let us know at soundspodcast@berklee.edu.
The Berklee student and Boston Calling–bound indie folk artist explores how discovering songwriting and a supportive queer community led to deeper self-discovery.
"Electro-symphonic” composer David Ibbett breaks down his process for turning scientific data into musical notes.
The alum and leader of Illuminati Hotties discusses the long road to her latest album and how her work as a producer gave her the confidence to finish the record. [Image by Courtney Cole]
Composer Ray Soul takes us behind the making of his track, "Seu Aprendiz," which is an honest, moving, and cathartic reckoning with his mother's suicide.
The author and trumpeter discusses his new book, which features intimate interviews with jazz greats from Bertha Hope to Robert Glasper. The book and its companion album shine a light on how personal history is cultural history. (Theme music is "You Made Me" by Sleeping Lion)
There are three hashtags at the bottom of the YouTube page for the song "Outliers," by the band Aviations. The first two are #aviationsband and #progressivemetal—pretty standard. But the last one is a bit surprising: #cozymetal.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, the band's drummer, James Knoerl B.M. '15 talks about why you might want to curl up with cup of tea when listening to this 11-minute prog metal epic . Take a listen.
Michela McDonagh B.M. '19, who goes by the artist name MHIC (pronounced “Mick"), remembers sensing the uneasiness in the air just before lockdown began in Manhattan, where she worked while living at home with her parents on Long Island. The ambient tension made her think about how her generation, the last to have a memory of 9/11, was brought up in an anxious world and is graduating into a particularly distressed moment.
The Turkish guitarist and producer shares his musical arrangement of a poem by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
The long-time Berklee faculty member talks imagination, her opera 'Rumpelstiltskin,' composing without computers, and more.
Note to listeners: this episode refers to a planned performance of 'Rumpelstiltskin' at the Kennedy Center that has now been canceled.
The Berklee alumna discusses her shift from instrumentalist to singer/songwriter, her love of sad music, and how translating lyrics can be a metaphor for making music in general.
The Berklee student, already a successful jazz pianist and composer at 18, talks to the BIRN about exploring new musical territory.
Amanda Addleman B.M. '09 always assumed she had stage fright, but after years of not being able to shake it she sought help and learned that she had something else: post-traumatic stress disorder. In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, she talks about how PTSD affected her career and how she used music, including writing a new album, to work through it.
In this episode, Kris Davis breaks down her song, "Corn Crake," and how it brought together jazz improvisation, turntables, and the voice of Olivier Messiaen.
The alumnus goes behind the scenes of some of 2019’s top releases, including Bon Iver's 'i, i' and Big Thief's 'U.F.O.F' and 'Two Hands.'
We also asked Sarlo to curate a collection of some of the most memorable tracks he’s produced over the years. Listen and read see what Sarlo had to say about each track he selected on Berklee Now: https://www.berklee.edu/news/berklee-now/andrew-sarlos-big-year-producing-bon-iver-big-thief-and-more
Theme music by Sleeping Lion.
Award-winning Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana B.M. '09 talks about the inspiration for her latest album, struggles she has faced in her artistic journey, and how she stays at the top of her game.
In this episode, Pedro Osuna talks about deadlines, working in L.A., and finding his compositional voice.
Hawkins recruited a team of Berklee alumni, former students, and others to write and build the song "Champagne" using the online collaboration platform Splice. Here's how they put the song together.
Take a moment to clear your mind with the alumna synth composer's organic, meditative music, featured on this episode of Sounds of Berklee.
This episode features music from "Abstractions," “Tides VII,” and “Tides I” by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. For more information, visit touchtheplants.com.
Leah Driscoll B.M. '03, director of Student Wellness Promotion and Services, and student Lyzz Zinn discuss mental health tips and resources for musicians.
Even if you've never heard of shoegaze, there's a good chance some of your favorite artists are fans. With a focus on heavily effected guitars and ethereal vocals, the underground rock genre came to prominence and was critically panned in the '90s. But the genre and its influence has made a comeback. In this episode, we look at the implications of that return and why the underground plays a vital role in music.
The legendary 'In Utero' producer engineered the Cotones’ “The Final Cut” and dropped priceless studio wisdom in Berklee’s Studio 2. Listen to the track premiere on Sounds of Berklee.
Niu Raza, a Berklee alumna and Madagascar native, gets audiences to dance with her pop track "Moramora."
“Great Escape,” the new single by Jackie Foster B.M. '18, has all the trademarks of a classic pop summer anthem: life-affirming lyrics, high sing-along factor, and a killer hook. It’s hard to believe a track that feels so destined to be heard blasting from rolled-down car windows was written during a low point in the singer’s career.
Recorded by Tony Brown Engineered by Darcy Davis Theme music by Sleeping Lion
Recorded shortly after his soundcheck at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, Kishi Bashi talks about the genesis of his new album (and an upcoming film) 'Omoiyari,' his approach to telling difficult stories as a songwriter, and much more. (Image by Max Ritter)
The Ruta Beggars, a student bluegrass band from Berklee, share "The Trains Don't Run No More in Boston," a song inspired by the MBTA.
Oakland-born singer Dalaun (Jordan Holly B.M. ’17) sings with the laid-back confidence of a seasoned R&B star on her first single, "Beggin.'" Catch her at BAMS Fest (https://www.bamsfest.org) on Saturday, June 22.
Engineered by Tony Brown Edited by Darcy Davis Theme music by Sleeping Lion
After graduating from Berklee's film scoring program in Valencia, Spain, Félix Carcone M.M. '15 co-created the highly successful game The Live Thriller in Paris. He tells us why it's been such a hit, and we take a listen to the theme song.
Shirly Spikes, an electronic production and design major and CEO of Virtuo Studios, shares her insights into the rapidly evolving industry of virtual reality and its potential to transform music education. Theme music 'You Made Me' by Sleeping Lion.
In this episode, we hear a soulful track from rapper, singer, and producer Myia Thornton, a current student studying music production and engineering. Thornton recently brought her skills to the 2019 commencement concert, where she covered a couple Missy Elliott tunes while Elliott herself was in the audience.
Buck Meek B.M. ’10 discusses returning to Berklee on tour with Jeff Tweedy, writing and recording with Big Thief, how a surreal encounter with Joni Mitchell helped him finish his song “Halo Light," and more. Image by Shervin Lainez.
Dancer and choreographer, Ebony Williams (B.F.A. '05, contemporary dance), noted for her work with Beyoncé, was recently honored with an Alumni Achievement Award. She talks here about her road to a dance career and how she uses stories to inform her choreography. (Image by Nikita Alba)
Berklee alumna Nella Rojas muses on solitude with a Latin beat in the title track from her upcoming album.
Listen to Hakim’s slow-burning single, "Bet She Looks Like You,” ahead of his April 19 show at the Red Room at Cafe 939.
Engineered by Zanne Hanna Edited by Darcy Davis
As a player and an educator, Berklee's new Guitar Department chair balances deep roots in tradition with stylistically diverse collaborations.
Visit kimperlak.com for links to more music by Kim Perlak and the Perlak/Tronzo Duo.
Bands ranging from Americana and jazz to Berklee’s Balkan Choir and Indian Ensemble reimagined Metallica songs for Boston Conservatory at Berklee's Center Stage dance concert, 'Limitless,' April 11–14.
Visit bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/centerstage for tickets and more information.
Berklee and Women in Music recently released the first-ever study of women working in the music industry. Erin Barra, who helmed the project, and researcher Becky Prior delve into the report's process, its findings, and how the industry can do better.
Alumnae folk trio Lula Wiles—featuring Eleanor Buckland '15, Isa Burke B.M. '16, and Mali Obomsawin '14—craft songs steeped in folk traditions, but with a raw and modern perspective. Listen to the ethereal triple harmonies in their ballad of heartbreak, "Love Gone Wrong."
Molsky's Mountain Drifters Search for a 'Bright Side Somewhere' by Berklee College of Music
Krystal Banfield, who leads Berklee City Music, talks with Stefanie Henning of the Career Center about how City Music helps disadvantaged young people develop musically while at the same time giving them an artistic community to thrive in.
Grammy-winning Brazilian vocalist and songwriter Luciana Souza B.M. ‘88, a featured performer at Larry Klein Meets Berklee on February 21, sets music to poetry on her latest album, The Book of Longing.
As Boston Conservatory at Berklee prepares to stage 'Hydrogen Jukebox,' a chamber opera collaboration between composer Philip Glass and poet Allen Ginsberg, director Nathan Troup shares his vision for adapting the experimental piece for today’s audience.
The incoming Woodwind Department chair’s versatility and lyricism are on full display in his new band, co-led with guitarist Matthew Stevens B.M. ’04. The band’s album was released on Whirlwind Recordings, owned by renowned bassist and composer Michael Janisch B.M. ’02.
Veteran Chinese music producer Billy Koh shares the insights he's gleaned from four decades working in the industry.
As we break for the holiday recess, 'Sounds of Berklee' flips the mic to our student engineer, Darcy Davis, whose band of fellow Berklee students, Lonely Path, just released their first single, "Continuum" on Spotify. Take a listen to the energetic, funked-up song and see if you're not humming that chorus all week.
The assistant chair of Berklee's Music Business/Management Department offers her practical, tough-love wisdom on making it in today’s industry.
Berklee's fall events calendar is stuffed full of senior recitals—each one telling its own story from showing up on campus with one idea, to graduating with many more to draw on. Here, three of those students share how they went about creating their final show at Berklee.
Berta Rojas and Paquito D'Rivera's Dia y Medio sprang from their four-year tour across the Americas. Here, we listen to "Las Abejas." Catch their Signature Series performance at Berklee on November 15.
Silkroad artists Cristina Pato, Galician bagpipes, and Edward Perez, double bass, discuss the collective's vision for education and its collaboration with Boston Conservatory at Berklee. And we listen to their song "Joropo-Festejo: Muiñeira de Chantada” from Pato’s album Latina, arranged by Perez.
Keyboard wunderkind and performance major Domi Degalle (a.k.a. DOMi) teams up with multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole (of KNOWER) for the synth and live-loop driven "Dark Webb," the first of a three-song collaboration.
The Boston Conservatory at Berklee contraBAND conductor interprets the landscape of African contemporary classical music, as well as his own identity, for a Center Stage performance on October 30.
In this episode, we listen to Avanti Nagral, a singer-songwriter pursuing a dual degree from Berklee and Harvard. She addresses issues of respect in relationships, set against a catchy beat, in "Treated."
In this episode, we talk to Professor Lucy Holstedt, who started the Women Musicians Network and annual concert in 1998, back when Berklee's student population was just over 20 percent female. She talks about what life for women students was like and how it's changed.
In this episode, we’ll listen to “Banshee” by the late jazz pioneer John Abercrombie ’67. Abercrombie will be celebrated with a Signature Series tribute concert on October 10.
As technical director for Tiny Desk concerts, Rogosin infuses NPR Music's popular video series with a mix of technology, theatricality, and artistry.
Petrova, who will perform with her quartet at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 21 and 22, composed "The Traveler" on the Hammond organ.
In this episode, we’ll listen to alumnus Noé Zagroun’s latest piano piece, which reflects his upbringing in the French Riviera and the network of jazz and classical instrumentalists that he has worked with during his time here. He'll play Boston Common's Brewer Plaza on September 24.
In this episode, we’ll check out Associate Professor David Gilmore’s jazz-fusion song "Blues Mind Matter." Gilmore will perform at the Berklee Performance Center on August 13.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we listen to Danielle Juhre, a powerhouse vocalist and music business major who draws on the help of her creative peers and education in business to manage and build a performance career on her own terms.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we’ll listen recent graduate Miette Hope’s latest single, “Release Me,” about trying to finally break free from a painful relationship. You can hear her live at Derby Square in Salem at 5 p.m. on July 14.
Dolltr!ck uses an electronic digital instrument—a combination of a computer and software with performance controllers—to create playful pieces that mix electronica, future dance, hip-hop, and house. Here's her song "Music Box Player."
Jose’s performance will show aspiring vocalists how a student can evolve after graduating from Berklee, featuring some songs from Jose’s first of two EPs, Heart of Gold. In this episode we hear his song "Tell Me Now."
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, Professor Felice Pomeranz shares her experiences crafting more inclusive, creative, and sustainable career opportunities for harpists.
Jiwon Kwon, an eighth-semester jazz composition and piano performance major, was one of four Berklee students who recently won a DownBeat Student Music Award, given to student musicians the magazine has deemed the best, as well as to their instructors.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, piano instructor Carlos Vargas talks about his passion for community outreach and the variety of projects he is currently working on, including his recent trip to the Dominican Republic.
As both the guitarist for the Zac Brown Band and an independent acoustic singer-songwriter, Berklee alumnus Clay Cook '98 balances a fast-paced life as a member of the Grammy-winning group with time to write his own music. In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we listen to his song "Unobstructed View."
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we’ll be listening to “I Do This,” a spoken-word song in which student Dom Jones pays tribute to a long list of people who keep her motivated. Jones will be playing at the Haymarket Lounge in City Winery, Boston, on April 14.
Boston Conservatory at Berklee faculty Christy Turnbow and Michael Hanley talk about the importance of vocal health, what it takes to teach across styles, and why cross-training in vocal pedagogy is important for students entering the field.
On the occasion of Black Violin's return to Berklee, to play at the BPC April 7, let’s revisit one of the most popular podcasts we aired last year. Here is the title track off their 2015 album, Stereotypes.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, the poet Beth Woodcome Platow speaks about teaching writing to musicians, her writing process, and reads two poems from her debut collection of poetry, 'Little Myths' (National Poetry Review Press).
Israel "Piraña" Suárez has adapted the cajón for musical styles outside his native flamenco. In this episode, we'll hear him play it in the funk tune "Aguas de Funk."
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we’ll dip into Dan Moretti's latest album, Invoke, with a listen to “Hymining.” Moretti will be performing more selections from the album on March 7 at the Red Room at Cafe 939, accompanied by Berklee faculty and students.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we’ll hear one of Neselovskyi’s latest compositions from Get Up and Go, called “On A Bicycle.” The song is just a sample of his dynamic work over the years, which you can see live at the upcoming Middle Eastern Festival in the Berklee Performance Center on March 1st. Tickets are available at berklee.edu/events/.
By the time Yuning Song entered Berklee last fall, he was already an award-winning composer who graduated from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, a vocalist who had appeared on nationally televised talent shows such as Sing My Song and Duets, and a recording artist with his own album.
In this episode of Sound of Berklee, Pablo Munguía, the director of Berklee’s Music Production, Technology, and Innovation master’s program talks about how he helps students push the frontiers of music and technology, and about reuniting with Justin Timberlake for this February’s Super Bowl halftime show.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we're listening to the title track of Iris Lune's newest album, Lost in Chatter, to hear how the band is creating music that challenges the status quo of today's pop.
A veteran session musician and longtime touring road warrior, world-renowned drummer, composer, and producer Omar Hakim has performed on records and tours with the biggest names in music without ever allowing himself to be typecast by genre.
In the realm of R&B and pop, he’s worked with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Mariah Carey, and Daft Punk. In jazz, his extensive credits include work with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Joe Sample, and Weather Report. In the rock arena, he’s worked with David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, and Sting. And the list goes on, from country great Jerry Douglas to hip-hop leader Queen Latifah, just to scratch the surface.
Take a listen to student Kiersten Kelly’s debut single, "Get Out," a song that establishes her as a powerful pop artist ready to take on the world and give every modern woman an anthem.
On this week's Sounds of Berklee, we're featuring Ben Johnston's 5th quartet, a work that highlights Johnston’s microtonal gymnastics built on just-tuned intervals, performed by Kepler Quartet. The song was recorded as part of a larger project to record Johnston’s entire body of work, a project that took 14 years.
In this episode, Erin Barra B.M. '06 talks about her anti-tech roots, walks us through the production of a new song, and discusses why she pushes students to use technology to help achieve their vision.
Mariza's "Alma," off her 2015 album, Mundo, fuses traditional fado melodies with newer styles, and is sung in Spanish. Mariza will receive the Master of Mediterranean Music Award from Berklee's Mediterranean Music Institute on November 11.
This episode features a track, "Let's Live Again," from 2006 Berklee graduate Lauren Kinhan's critically acclaimed new album, "A Sleepin' Bee," which offers new takes on the songs of Nancy Wilson, the legendary jazz vocalist and 1994 Berklee honorary doctorate recipient. Kinhan recorded the album in Berklee's Shames Family Scoring Stage with eight-time Grammy-winning producer Elliot Scheiner (a 2006 Berklee honorary doctorate recipient) as students observed the recording session turned master class.
Students Andres Abello, Pedro Calloni, and Loren Dorland worked as engineers on the project and Kinhan's band featured alumni Matt Penman on bass and alumna Ingrid Jensen as special guest trumpeter.
Kinhan will perform live in Boston on November 8, 2017 at Berklee's Red Room at Cafe 939. Tickets are available via berklee.edu/redroom.
"A Sleepin' Bee" is available for purchase via iTunes and more information, including a blog from Kinhan about recording at Berklee, is available at LaurenKinhan.com.
Berklee Voice Professor Livingston Taylor talks about the key principles of good stage performance techniques.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Michael Shinn talks about key skills that every modern day musician needs to be build a career in the arts, and what he hopes to achieve as Boston Conservatory at Berklee's new dean of music.
Molly Tuttle, a 2014 Berklee alumna, recently won the International Bluegrass Music Association award for Best Guitarist, becoming the first female to do so since the IBMAs began in 1990. In 2017, Tuttle's debut EP, 'Rise,' debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart.
This podcast features a track from that EP, which is available via CDBaby here: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/mollytuttle
Photo by Andy Cambria, courtesy of the artist
For her new album, guitarist Kaki King teamed up with birnCORE, the Berklee Internet Radio Network's (BIRN) independent record label, to reimagine selections from her catalog with the help of a chamber orchestra comprising Berklee personnel.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, seventh-semester student Paloma Menendez calls in from her semester abroad at Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain, where she’s taking a respite from her music-business-heavy schedule to re-energize her singing and songwriting.
Modern Drummer magazine calls Marko Djordjevic, an assistant professor of percussion at Berklee, a “world class drummer” and “a true innovator.” Djordjevic and his band, Sveti, will perform at this year’s Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival on September 30.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Rhoda Bernard discusses how her decade of successful work in educating special-needs students and their teachers has evolved into the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs, and where she plans to take this program in the future.
"Pretty Good for a Girl," a track on Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers' first studio album, The EastWest Sessions, is about empowering and supporting women and a cause Berklee alumna Abair B.M. '91 has taken up.
Carin Nuernberg, Berklee’s vice president of online education, discusses Berklee Online’s forthcoming master’s degree program and how students can take advantage of flexible pathways to study and earn degrees with Berklee through an array of options.
The new Lady Pills' track "Old Song," showcases their affinity for pairing punky, fuzzed-out guitars alongside ethereal melodies and unexpected song structure. The song was released just prior to the band's set at Lollapalooza 2017.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Nichelle Mungo talks about the history of the Berklee Gospel and Roots Choir, the difference between traditional and contemporary gospel, and how the choir keeps the party going at Newport.
Songwriter and music therapist Brandon Hassan B.M. '17, who performs under the moniker Brandon Shah, made it to the top 24 of the hit show "X-Factor" when he was only 16. Take a listen to “Work of Art,” the lead track from his EP "Young Love." And be sure to catch him performing at B3 in July.
Jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator Jason Palmer discusses his music and shares a track from his latest album as he prepares to lead a Berklee septet at the Newport Jazz Festival and Toronto Jazz Festival.
Trumpet player, composer, and music teacher Paul Sanchez will perform as part of Berklee's Summer in the City series. Listen to his song “A Traves de Tus Ojos” (“Through Your Eyes”), which he wrote about his wife.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, musician Todd Rundgren '17H reflects on his decades-long career as well as his Berklee experience as an honorary doctorate recipient and this year's commencement speaker.
In Part Two of Tony Brown's interview with Esperanza Spalding, the two talk about her early days in Portland, Oregon; her mother's influence on her musical development; why feedback is important; and what's next for her.
Esperanza Spalding and the BIRN's Tony Brown talk about the inspiration for her album Emily's D+Evolution and how the song "Unconditional Love" came about.
Contemporary R&B singer-songwriter Phé discusses her music and shares her debut single "Incredible," which is a finalist in this year's International Songwriting Competition. Phé, a member of the graduating class of 2017, is soon to release her debut EP.
About one year after the Boston Conservatory and Berklee merged, Richard Ortner, president of the Conservatory, reflects on the historic move, the synergy of the combined institution, the early wins and challenges, and the leaders and visionaries who have influenced his approach.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, student cellist, composer, and arranger Cristobal Cruz-Garcia talks about how his childhood in Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California, inform his willingness to cross musical borders.
Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus of the violin-driven hip-hop and rock duo Black Violin use their strings not only to challenge the concept of what makes for popular music but also to blow open racial stereotypes.
On this episode of Inside Berklee, alumnus Howard Shore joins us from his studio in New York to talk about the upcoming performance of his The Lord of the Rings Symphony at Boston's Symphony Hall on April 19.
Pitch Slapped, Berklee’s premier coed a cappella group, will release its second full-length album, Complexion, on April 20, following a debut performance of it at the Berklee Performance Center on April 19.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Cheryl Coons calls in from Chicago to join Peter Eldridge and Rene Pfister in talking about the mystery of Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss," about what inspired them to create the show, and about the rise of musical theater at Berklee.
It’s been a big year for singer and bassist Tonina Saputo, one of the Mediterranean Music Institute’s emerging artists. In 2016, she was a featured vocalist on the MMI project Refugio del Sonido (Refuge of Sound), spearheaded by Javier Limón, and last month Saputo’s career got another major boost when she was selected as one of the first three emerging artists in Univision’s U-LAB project.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Professor Ken Zambello talks about what it takes to get into the annual Singers Showcase, how Elvis Presley made rock famous, and what students today know of Elvis' music.
With roots in Boston and Portland, Maine, nascent indie rock trio Weakened Friends kicks off its spring tour at the 2017 South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival, including a slot at SXSW’s Boston and Beyond party on St. Patrick's Day (March 17), hosted by Vanyaland and Berklee.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Christiane Karam talks about her musical journey in exploring ways that different cultures intersect and find common ground. As part of this journey, she founded the Middle Eastern Festival in 2009. On March 8, the festival returns to Berklee as part of the Signature Series at Berklee and features the music of celebrated Armenian composer Tigran Hamasyan.
In this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we feature saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Tia Fuller, a professor in the Ensemble Department who has performed alongside legends such as Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Jay-Z, Janelle Monáe, and Erykah Badu.
After more than 40 years as an integral leader at Berklee, Senior Vice President for Innovation, Strategy, and Technology David Mash B.M. '76, who Rolling Stone has called the "leading evangelist for the marriage of music and technology," reflects on his work and the Berklee community leading up to his retirement this spring.
Banda Magda has drawn critical praise and found chart success by skilfully interweaving Greek folk, Colombian cumbia, Afro-Peruvian lando, and tropicália, among other styles, with lyrics sung in six languages.
Grammy-winning conductor/composer Craig Hella Johnson, founder and artistic director for the choral organization Conspirare, discusses his arresting new work, Considering Matthew Shepard.
Take a listen to the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, directed by Greg Hopkins, professor of jazz composition, perform the original tune "Transitions." Composed by Sean Jones, chair of the Brass Department, this tracks was recorded live at the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival.
As artistic director of the Berklee Interdisciplinary Arts Institute (BIAI), Neil Leonard guides students in collaborations with artists working in every medium imaginable.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Emilien Moyon, the director of Berklee’s Global Entertainment and Music Business program, talks entrepreneurship, why people who study abroad have an edge, and the impressive list of industry heavyweights who visit the campus.
Violinist Taylor Davis will be playing at Berklee’s Red Room at Cafe 939 on December 5, 2016. Take a listen to one of her many YouTube hits here, with her original song, “Nebulous.”
In his 12 years as president of Berklee, Roger H. Brown has presided over some of the college's biggest milestones, such as the opening of an international campus in Valencia, Spain in addition to the college’s Boston, Massachusetts campus, the expansion of Berklee Online, and the merger that recently created Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Panos Panay '94 talks about the synergy between music and entrepreneurialism, and founding the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE).
On November 10, 2016, Ziegler will bring his music to the Berklee Performance Center, playing both his and Piazzolla’s compositions in concert with a large student orchestra. The first song on Ziegler's set list is “Asfalto.”
Kenny Werner, artistic director of Berklee's Effortless Mastery Institute, discusses how musicians can learn to play from the deepest parts of themselves and rediscover their connection to music.
Wang Leehom ’99 is a world-renowned singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, movie star, record producer, film director, and cultural ambassador who will join Berklee students in performing selections from his catalogue at Boston's Symphony Hall on Sunday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. He will be presented with an honorary doctor of music degree at the concert.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, student fiddle player Emily Baker talks about how she rediscovered her passion for music, and about the risk she took at age 26 to pursue music full time at Berklee.
Ray Greene: Here, There, Everywhere: Boston-based vocalist hits the road with Carlos Santana By Curtis Killian In February, Ray Greene ’96 was selected as one of two lead vocalists to join Carlos Santana’s group. This follows Greene’s productive two--year run as lead vocalist for Tower of Power that included appearances on their forthcoming album and tours alongside Journey and Steve Miller. He attributes landing the new gig to making virtual connections.
“It’s one of the ways that social media definitely works,” Greene said during a recent visit to his alma mater. “I got a Facebook message from Carlos’s manager about a possible recording project. So I reached out to him and he said, ‘We’re looking to change the energy, so we really want to talk to you about joining the group.’”
Greene’s first tour with Santana began just weeks later at the Dubai Jazz Festival. “It’s been a whirlwind going from Tower of Power, which is a legendary group, to Santana, which is another legendary group,” Greene says. “[Santana] sees music way differently than a lot of people do, which is cool. He’s never settling, he’s always trying different things. As long as you can be on the same wavelength with him, it can be a really cool experience. You get the sense that all he wants to do is play, he just loves playing the guitar.“
Greene came to Berklee as a trombone principal, a talent he was able to showcase with the famed Tower of Power horn section in addition to his vocal duties. “I was always content to just be behind my horn,” he says. “There were so many phenomenal singers when I was at Berklee: Marlon Saunders [’87], B. David Whitworth [’84]—who is now with Earth Wind and Fire—and Charles Pettigrew [’84].” But, being the son of a gospel vocalist and growing up in Americus, Georgia, singing came naturally to Greene.
“I always had the vocal thing in the back of my mind not knowing if I ever really wanted to pursue it because I love the trombone as well. We started a horn band at Berklee, but they already had a trombonist so they asked me to audition as a singer,” Greene says. “To this day I don’t know how they figured I had these aspirations. Once I had the chance to sing in front of an audience, I was hooked. But I never wanted to stop playing the horn. There’s nothing saying that you can’t do both.”
After Berklee, Greene toured with Rick James as a horn player, and since then he has sought to play his horn on every gig. “Getting a chance to play in the horn section with Tower of Power was mind blowing,” he says. “I played on about 27 songs on their new album.” And he’s ready to pick up his horn with Santana. “I always bring my trombone,” he says. “If the call comes, I’m ready. I’ve already had the chance to play on some shows.”
When he’s not on the road with Santana, Greene continues to headline one of the preeminent funk-r&b bands in the Boston area, Innervisions. As well, his links to Berklee remain strong. He performed at the 2014 Encore Gala with Berklee’s Tower of Power ensemble and headlined the 2015 gala with Innervisions in support of the Berklee City Music Program.
Speaking about connections he’s made with other alumni—including Carlos Santana’s wife and drummer Cindy Blackman ’80—Greene says, “You just cannot get away from Berklee: we’re everywhere! Berklee has a wide reach all over the world.”
Curtis Killian is a web content producer for Berklee’s Office of Alumni Affairs.
In this edition of Inside Berklee, Joy Allen, the new chair of Berklee's Music Therapy Department, talks about the principles behind music therapy, how it can be used to help people, and how Berklee prepares students to be effective therapists.
Saxophonist Mark Zaleski, an associate professor in Berklee's Harmony Department, will perform at the Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival on September 24. Here's his tune "Mark in the Park."
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Wanda Strukus talks about the state of contemporary theater, building a program from its infancy, and how the recent merger with Berklee is already opening up new possibilities for collaboration.
Noémie Legrand '16 talks about her journey to becoming a songwriter, studying songwriting at Berklee, and—with the help of the Berklee Popular Music Institute—getting the chance to perform with her band Noé at the 2016 Osheaga Festival in Montreal, Canada.
Award-winning composer Alison Plante, who has recently been named chair of Berklee's Film Scoring Department, discusses her plans for preparing those interested in careers in scoring for film, TV, video games, and other visual media.
By Curtis Killian | August 9, 2016
Since forming at Berklee in 2009, the relentless outpouring of genre-expanding art from Bent Knee is something to behold, with lush, experimental compositions and vivid performances imbuing elements of rock, electronic, classical and pop.
On the heels of signing with independent label Cuneiform Records, guitarist Ben Levin '11 and bassist Jessica Kion '13 dropped by the Berklee Alumni offices to discuss the making of their just-released critically-acclaimed album Say So, life on the road, and becoming partners in music and life.
(Photo by Chris Anderson)
Canada-born drummer Anthony Fung has spent the past several years at Berklee earning his bachelor's and master's degrees, and now the rising musician is off to further hone his talents at the Thelonious Monk Institute.
Fung, who earned his Master of Music in contemporary performance (global jazz concentration) in 2016, has performed with Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and other jazz legends. This podcast features his quintet: Fung, Edmar Colón on saxophone, Mao Sone on trumpet, Jonny Chapman on bass, and Kyumin Shim on piano.
Learn more about the Berklee Global Jazz Institute: https://www.berklee.edu/focused/global-jazz
As an original content producer for Spotify, Bryan Grone '08 has the sort of job that most new Berklee graduates would envy. He spends the bulk of his time curating and producing video and audio content that you can't find anywhere else. Artists he has worked with include D’Angelo, Demi Lovato, and others. Learn about the arc of his career, his decision to leave Berklee to tour with a band, why he returned to college, and his take on how Spotify supports and promotes artists.
https://www.berklee.edu/news/podcast-bryan-grone-08
In the photograph, Bryan Grone, right, poses with RIck Ross.
Meet Eirini Tornesaki, the sole vocalist in KURIOS by Cirque du Soleil and a Berklee Online student. Berklee Online grants Tornesaki the flexibility to earn a specialist certificate in songwriting while on the road with the circus.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Cathy Young talks about the state of dance as an art form; the importance of taking risks as an artist; how her broad background in liberal arts and dance informs her role; and her excitement about the possibilities the Berklee and Boston Conservatory merger has opened up.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Jeff Dorenfeld and Jeff Apruzzese talk about the genesis and current goings-on of the Berklee Popular Music Institute (BPMI). Berklee's newest institute, BPMI pairs artists and business students together for gigs at major festivals such as Lollapalooza, Osheaga, and Electric Daisy Carnival.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Mediterranean Music Institute Artistic Director Javier Limón talks about the MMI's Refugio Del Sonido project, in which Spain's El País newspaper is distributing four MMI CDs that contain music about the refugee experience. Proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders.
David Rosenthal ’81: Music director and keyboardist for the Piano Man for 23 Years and counting By Curtis Killian
During a recent artist residency at his alma mater, David Rosenthal ’81, Billy Joel’s music director and keyboardist since 1993, described his prodigious career as “a fun and exciting journey.” He wasn’t exaggerating.
On the most recent leg of that odyssey, Rosenthal is booked for indefinite sold-out shows with Billy Joel in a first-of-its-kind residency at Madison Square Garden. Thus far there have been 26 monthly engagements at the fabled venue, which Rosenthal says will continue as long as there is a demand. “It’s just remarkable, the enthusiasm of the New York fans for Billy,” Rosenthal says. “Worldwide he has that incredible appeal, but particularly in New York he has that home advantage.” Notably, Joel and Rosenthal will also play at Fenway Park in August for the third summer in a row, and Joel’s sold-out debut gig at Wembley Stadium in September.
Of his role as music director and the unique arena residency, Rosenthal notes, “It’s a lot of preparedness. No two shows with him are identical.” The arena residency offers Joel the chance to perform his lesser-known tunes in addition to the hits fans expect. In preparation, Rosenthal says he has keyboard sounds programmed for about 85 songs.
Rosenthal arrived at Berklee during the late 1970s as a classically trained pianist. He formed a band with fellow student Steve Vai ’79, a collaboration that has continued throughout their careers and is documented on several albums. “Everybody knew he was a great player,” Rosenthal says of Vai. “We played a lot of different things, and I believe it was Steve’s tape of our band that got [him his] audition with Frank Zappa. He’s a remarkable talent and [we] have remained great friends.” That relationship and others were an added benefit to Rosenthal from his Berklee years.
Rosenthal’s first venture after graduating was a successful audition to replace keyboardist Don Airey in guitarist Richie Blackmore’s band Rainbow. It extended through two world tours and two albums, and was followed by tours with Little Steven, Cindi Lauper, Robert Palmer, and Enrique Iglesias as well as studio work with an array of artists.
In addition to these gigs and his long-term work with Joel, Rosenthal has manned the keyboards with progressive stalwarts Happy the Man, orchestrated a concerto for Yngwie Malmsteem, and done synth programming for Bruce Springsteen.
During a recent Berklee visit hosted by the Electronic Production and Design Department and the Office of Alumni Affairs, Rosenthal gave clinics on designing and playing a touring keyboard rig, the application of Apple’s Main Stage, and the role of the music director. “It’s fascinating, I’m on the cutting edge of technology now, but every piece of gear I use now did not exist while I was at Berklee,” he says. “But what I was fortunate to receive in my education here was all the concepts of how things work, and that enabled me to adapt to whatever technologies came along after I left.
“I really love doing all types of projects [stylistically and musically], but [also enjoy] projects as synth programmer, orchestrator or producer,” Rosenthal says. “There are a lot of things I’ve been fortunate to do throughout all of my career, so far it’s been a good run.”
Curtis Killian is a web content producer for Berklee’s Office of Alumni Affairs.
After several years of hiatus, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones are reuniting for a two-week tour starting June 1, 2016 and concluding at this year’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The group includes Fleck, a 14-time Grammy winner often considered the world's greatest living banjo player, and Victor Wooten, a five-time Grammy winner who is, likewise, frequently cited as the world’s best living bassist. Wooten is a performance scholar in residence at Berklee and founder of the Victor Wooten/Berklee Summer Bass Workshop. Hear Fleck—who says he “would have loved to have come to Berklee”—and Wooten talk about the band’s decision to regroup and Boston’s booming acoustic music scene while offering Berklee students advice on supportive musical conversations.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Rita Moreno '16H, who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate at Berklee's 2016 commencement proceedings, talks about her experiences in a career that spans over seven decades.
Carlos Capacho, who graduates from Berklee in May 2016, is already forging innovative new approaches to his instrument, the four-string Venezuelan cuatro. "I'm almost creating a new language for this instrument," he said in a recent interview. Capacho has performed in Mexico, Cuba, and Africa, and has taken the stage with a long list of greats, including Paquito D'Rivera.
This podcast features one of his originals, in a recording with other Berklee students and graduates. Learn more about him and other members of the class of 2016: https://www.berklee.edu/news/berklee%E2%80%99s-class-2016-music-good-hands?ss=203706
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Philip talks about the origin of Berklee India Exchange, the creation of the Berklee Indian Ensemble, and the presentation of the first Berklee A.R. Rahman Scholarship.
As part of the 2016 State of Jazz Composition Symposium, Eric Gould, chair of the Jazz Composition Department, sits down with world-renowned Colombian percussionist Samuel Torres.
Born in the Bahamas, bassist, vocalist, and composer Selah Poitier is a new artist with an eclectic musical style influenced by sounds from modern jazz, hip-hop, and blues as well as her traditional Bahamian roots. She lists Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, and Bob Marley among the artists who inspire her. Poitier plans to release her debut album in 2016.
Berklee Ensemble Department and City Music faculty members Chantel Hampton and Alonzo Harris both have a long and multifaceted list of music industry accomplishments. In this interview Hampton and Harris talk about how a Berklee education can help better prepare students for a career in the music industry; the value of being open to be "forever learning;" and how their own professional experiences are testimony to the value of diversifying one's skill set.
March 29, 2016 | by Curtis Killian Berklee alumnus Taku Hirano '95 is a percussionist, producer and designer who has carved an eclectic career over the past two decades working with Whitney Houston, Fleetwood Mac, Dr. Dre, Bette Midler, John Mayer and Cirque du Soleil, to name a few. He is also the founder of apparel company 3rd Culture and recording group Tao of Sound.
Hirano visited his alma mater this month to be on the Professional Music Department's second annual Careerealism panel and to share his experience with students and the alumni community.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Melissa Ferrick, an associate professor in Berklee's Songwriting Department, talks about honesty in songwriting, getting students to open up, touring while teaching, and more.
Equinox Music Festival codirector and Berklee Piano Department faculty member Moira Lo Bianco '12, will perform music from her latest release, Imago, in this day-long event on March 21, 2016.
Hailing from Italy, Lo Bianco studied at conservatories in her home country before graduating from Berklee. She has performed at several major festivals, earned a Boston Music Award nomination, launched a workshop series on improvisation for classical pianists, and recently was appointed as Young Steinway Artist and Steinway Educational Partner.
This podcast will feature three short Lo Bianco solo piano compositions—"Friduccia" (I) and ‘Charlie’s Adventures" (V) are dedicated to Frida Khalo and Charlie Chaplin, respectively, and "Dear Witch" (II) is a musical portrait of Lo Bianco’s mentor, heroine, and piano teacher Stephany Tiernan.
https://www.berklee.edu/events/equinox-music-festival
Grammy-winning pianist, composer, and bandleader Danilo Pérez founded the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI) six years ago, with a focus on teaching his students about the potential of music as an instrument for social change.
In this interview at the Berklee Internet Radio Network (BIRN) studios, Pérez talked about a range of topics, including the influence of mentors such as Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, and his father; the ways in which he and his colleagues teach and aim to transform their students, and how his work with the Panama Jazz Festival has helped connect Berklee students with the Panamian community and provided education to a new generation of young musicians from his home country.
He performs with students, fellow faculty members, and guest artist Danny Rivera at the Global Jazz Summit, at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, on April 1, 2016. https://www.berklee.edu/events/berklee-global-jazz-summit https://www.berklee.edu/bgji
Berklee alumnus Nate Morton '94 has been the drummer in the house band for NBC's hit TV show The Voice since it first aired in 2011, appeared on the Rock Star: Supernova and Rock Star: INXS reality shows, toured nationally in the American Idol band, and has shared the stage with Cher, Natalie Cole, Paul Stanley, and Chaka Khan.
Interview, production and photo by Curtis Killian
Student Zaid Tabani talks about his journey as a rapper, and the peaks and valleys that led him to the release of his new record, Bos Angeles.
After 30 years of teaching the "best student improvisers on the planet," to use his term, Berklee professor of ensemble Hal Crook '71 is retiring soon and celebrating this week with a concert featuring some of his most remarkable former students. A trombonist, Crook will perform with Grammy Award–winner Esperanza Spalding '05, drummer Antonio Sanchez '97, guitarist Lionel Loueke '04, pianist Leo Genovese '01, saxophonist Chris Cheek '91, and Deborah Pierre '13.
A former member of the Phil Woods Quintet and the Tonight Show Orchestra, Crook has performed with a long list of jazz greats, including Bob Brookmeyer, Mick Goodrick, Woody Herman, Milt Hinton, Thad Jones, John Medeski, Paul Motian, and Clark Terry.
The podcast features "Behind These Eyes," one of the Crook originals he and his band will play in the concert, The Music of Hal Crook: Set Me Free, on Thursday, February 18, at the Berklee Performance Center.
By Curtis Killian | February 10, 2016
When Donny McCasslin '88 and his jazz quartet were enlisted by David Bowie H'99 to record as the backing band for what became his 25th and final album Blackstar, stylized as ★, the Grammy-nominated saxophonist, composer and bandleader was ready for the moment.
"David encouraged us to try anything and everything that we heard," McCaslin says on the three weeks he spent working with Bowie and his longtime producer Tony Visconti early last year, recordingmostly live with his group (keyboardist Jason Lindner, drummer Mark Guiliana and bassist Tim Lefebvre). "He said something to me in the beginning like, Donny, I don’t know what’s gonna happen with this but let’s just have some fun."
A fixture of the New York Jazz scene for nearly thirty years, McCaslin has worked as bandleader and as sideman for the likes of Steps Ahead, Maria Schneider Orchestra and professor fellow alumnus Gary Burton '62, who he began touring with his senior year. "Being at Berklee and thrust into this world where the boundaries of music or styles were pretty fluid, that was really a great experience to help me to broaden my musical language," McCaslin says, a dexterity clearly displayed through his various contributions on Blackstar as musician, bandleader and orchestrator.
"I’m grateful to have been able to be in that space for a prolonged amount of time in relation to the jazz world," McCaslin says. "The joy on David’s face when we would have that take and felt it, everybody was feeling that it was the take and seeing the joy on his face was very moving to me. It was beautiful."
In this episode of Life After Berklee, just weeks after the album's release and shock of Bowie's death, McCaslin shares insight into the recording process and how he and his jazz quartet from New York City became David Bowie’s final backing band.
https://www.berklee.edu/news/podcast-donny-mccaslin-88-david-bowie
In this edition of Inside Berklee, McElroy both discusses and sings spirituals, joined by students from the Jubilee Spirit Ensemble that she leads at Berklee.
After a successful international career as a funk artist, Prince Charles Alexander transformed himself into a first-call engineer and producer, working with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Alicia Keys, and P. Diddy. He had a Grammy-winning career and more than 40 platinum and gold certifications from the RIAA when he decided he wanted to alter course again and become an educator.
Alexander chose Berklee because he expected it would be "like that great coaching gig at one of the best basketball schools in the country." Among the next-generation players who worked their way through Alexander's classes was Charlie Puth '13, a songwriter and artist who's "See You Again"—a collaboration with rapper Wiz Khalifa—was one of 2015's biggest hits.
Listen to this interview with Prince Charles Alexander to learn about how he applies lessons learned from his career to helping guide young musicians, such as Puth, toward forging their own paths in music.
After Berklee and The Boston Conservatory begun discussing plans to merge last year, it quickly became clear that synergies between the two institutions had been building for many years. Students, faculty, and alumni have often collaborated, and several faculty members can say that they have worked for both Berklee and the Conservatory.
One such example is Jonathan Bailey Holland, who is currently a professor of composition at both institutions. Holland studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music and later received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. His works have been commissioned and performed by the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minnesota, National, Philadelphia, San Antonio, St. Louis, and South Bend symphony orchestras, as well as several other ensembles. He has received honors from the Fromm Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and more. He has served as composer-in-residence for several major orchestras and ensembles. He is also a founding faculty member in the low-residency MFA in Music Composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Recent highlights include the premiere of Equality for narrator and orchestra for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, using the poetry of Maya Angelou. Listen below to this week's featured podcast selection, Dark Flowers, a two-movement piece written by Holland for the CD, Four Prayers, featuring Christopher Chaffee on alto and bass flutes, and Josh Nemith on piano.
Learn about the Berklee-Boston Conservatory merger: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-boston-conservatory
In this edition of Inside Berklee, Werner discusses how to break these negative patterns and how his institute can help musicians do this by teaching them to play from the deepest parts of themselves and rediscover their connection to the music.
In this special edition of Inside Berklee, DioGuardi talks to Bonnie Hayes, chair of the Songwriting Department, about coming back to her art, interacting with young musicians, and what it takes to succeed in the industry today.
LISTEN: The Nth Power just released their debut album "Abundance" and can be seen this Friday, November 27 at The Sinclair. Earlier this year, we had a conversation with bandleader, drummer and #BerkleeAlumni Nikki Glaspie '05 about life after Berklee, including her five years touring the globe with Beyoncé and the formation of her new band. For more, visit thenthpowermusic.com
Grammy nominee and jazz accordionist Victor Prieto graduated from Berklee in 2002. Born in Spain, the New York City-based composer and bandleader writes music that combines jazz, classical, tango, Celtic, and Brazilian music with sounds steeped in his Galician heritage.
This episode features Prieto in a duo setting with fellow Berklee alumnus and saxophonist Chris Cheek, who plays soprano on "Chatting with Chris." Both musicians are performing at Berklee in November 2015 in an NPR broadcast filmed and recorded at Berklee's Cafe 939 in the year's first installation of the music series, The Checkout—Live at Berklee.
May 8, 2014 | Rob Hochschild
Singer-songwriter Arielle Vakni, from Santa Cruz, California is one of more 900 musicians graduating from Berklee in May 2014. She's demonstrated great talent as a composer and performer in acoustic and electronic genres, and many of her originals fuse those disparate influences.
Vakni came to Berklee after receiving a Fullerton Heritage Festival Award for vocal jazz in 2009. Acoustic guitarist and songwriter Patty Larkin recently produced a recording of one of Vakni's tunes, "Save Your Best." This podcast features Vakni's "Backwards," a track recorded live at Berklee's Cafe 939—you can watch a Vakni video at Berklee's YouTube channel. Visit Vakni's website to learn more and to hear her most recent recordings, which include Tryptich (with Skycranes) and her debut solo release, Facets & Resonance.
On the same day Vakni receives her bachelor's in songwriting, she'll witness Berklee granting honorary doctor of music degrees to four greats: guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist and songwriter Valerie Simpson, composer and pianist Geri Allen, and educator and trumpeter Thara Memory.
April 25, 2014 | Adam Renn Olenn
Alyosha Barreiro '01 is a composer and producer of electronic and dance music who has performed at clubs and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic to crowds of more than 100,000 people.
With several No. 1 hits on Latin American music charts and a large following, Barreiro has been tapped as the producer of Beat Trend, an internationally syndicated radio show in which he curates the latest happenings in electronic music.
As a special gift to Berklee, he has offered to share the show with Air Alumni, Berklee's all-alumni radio station on the BIRN.
Beat Trend airs Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern for North- and South-American listeners, and Saturday nights at 7:00 p.m. Eastern for European listeners.
April 17, 2014 | Adam Renn Olenn
Formed in 2009 as the house band for a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Evolfo Doofeht is loaded with Berklee alumni, including Kai Sorensen ’13 on trumpet and vocals, Julian Moore ’13 on drums, Rafferty Swink ’13 on keyboards, Ronnie Lanzilotta on bass, and Matthew Gibbs on guitar and vocals. The band has spent the last few years performing at colleges, festivals, and nightclubs all over the United States.
The band won Best International Artist of the Year at the 2012 Boston Music Awards, and is working on a full-length album with producer Craig Welsch.
And the unusual name? That’s "the food of love" spelled backwards.
March 27, 2014 | Rob Hochschild
Guitarist Matthew Stevens has built his reputation on and brought his unique sound to recordings by many of jazz's leading young artists—including Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Ben Williams, Walter Smith III, and Jacky Terrasson—but his forthcoming debut on Concord Records promises to have as great an impact as any of the many albums he has appeared on.
According to All About Jazz, he has "an impassioned sense of commitment, (and) his solos build with a burning combination of inevitability and sheer unpredictability."
Stevens will lead his quintet in a performance at Berklee on April 2, 2014, on NPR's The Checkout—Live at Berklee, in a concert that will be broadcast by NPR Music and WBGO-FM.
This episode of Sounds of Berklee spotlights a Stevens recording from 2010 that also features Walter Smith III, Milton Fletcher, John Escreet, and Jamire Williams.
March 25, 2014 | Adam Renn Olenn
Sarah Sharp and Masumi Jones, 1997 alumnae, are the Berklee half of the Jitterbug Vipers, a magnificently weird quartet from Austin, Texas. The group specializes in ‘viper jazz,’ an idiosyncratic hybrid genre that recalls country, swing, and languid afternoons in smoky bars.
Fusing Americana roots music and wry wordplay, the Jitterbug Vipers aim to employ a bygone aesthetic without being shackled to it.
Their efforts are bearing fruit, as they’ve nearly sold out the prestigious One World Theater and have become music festival staples, as well as gigging extensively in Texas in support of their album Phoebe’s Dream.
March 13, 2014 | Rob Hochschild
The Field Effect is a rock quartet featuring four Berklee alumni with a passion for well-crafted songs filled with introspective lyrics, infectious melodies, and ferocious rhythms. The song featured in this podcast, "Ogunquit, ME," earned the band a Boston Music Award for Song of the Year in 2013.
The band, which formed in 2011, is composed of guitarist and frontman Doug Orey, guitarist Nick Grieco, bassist Annie Hoffman, and drummer Adam Hand. The group is one of several bands representing Berklee at the college's annual SXSW party in Austin, Texas in March 2014. Nearly 50 Berklee-affiliated bands are performing at SXSW showcases this year.
March 7, 2014 | Adam Renn Olenn
Associate professor of guitar Thaddeus Hogarth ’88 has authored Funk-Rock/R&B Guitar Soloing, two popular courses for Berklee Online, and taught more than 120,000 students in his Introduction to Guitar course on Coursera, for which he was featured on NBC’s Today Show. But Hogath—who was born in England and raised in St. Kitts, West Indies—has a recording and performance history every bit as impressive as his pedagogical achievements.
Hogarth has released half a dozen albums under his own name; performed with many of the seminal names in funk and R&B and composed music for PBS, MTV, and many independent and feature films.
And underpinning it all is thirteen years (and counting) in which he’s been an guitar faculty member at Berklee, teaching generations of students how to grow their skills and realize that, as he says, “process and practical results are equally important.”
February 28, 2014 | Rob Hochschild
The Berklee Middle Eastern Festival not only provides an annual glimpse into the music of an important cultural region, it demonstrates how that area's music can be fused with other contemporary styles in innovative ways. This year's festival, The Music of Armenia: Dark Eyes/New Eyes, brings guest artist Sato Moughalian of Alexandria, Egypt, to perform with her Perspectives Ensemble. The concert, now in its sixth year, is led annually by faculty member Christiane Karam. Student performers come from a range of towns, including Izmir, Turkey; Amman, Jordan; Quito, Ecuador; Moscow; Stockholm; Panama City; Athens; Jerusalem; and many others.
One of this year's performers, the Berklee student group Pletenitsa Balkan Choir, also performed in the 2013 Berklee Middle Eastern Festival. In last year's concert Pletenitsa performed "Folkscat Medley," a jazz arrangement of Bulgarian folk songs.
Saxophonist Donald Harrison talks to Berklee about his upbringing in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and important musical relationships in his life.
Berklee in Atlanta, Berklee’s annual spring break trip to Atlanta, GA, celebrated its fifth year anniversary in March 2015. The 20 students who participated that year had an opportunity to work in one of Atlanta’s most reputable recording studios (PatchWerk Recording Studios) to create an original song from start to finish in a span of only six hours. “Give It Up for the ATL” is a theme song one might say about their incredible experience while in Atlanta. Enjoy!
Rob Hochschild | February 14, 2014
Fate & the Family Band is the kind of group that gets its audiences dancing, so it's clear why the producers at student-run Heavy Rotation Records decided to make "Sweet Creole Queen" the first cut on the just-released Dorm Sessions 9. Fronted by Virginia-bred student vocalist Emma Hern, Fate & the Family Band make music that fuses blues, rock, and soul.
Fate & the Family Band perform at Cafe 939 on March 13, 2014.
Learn more about the latest release and the rest of the catalogue from Heavy Rotation Records at the label's website.
Adam Renn Olenn | January 23, 2014
Originally from Falkirk, Scotland, Jason Lim ’13 is a polymath in the finest Berklee tradition. An accomplished violinist, guitarist, drummer, inventor, and recording engineer, he is equally comfortable on both sides of the sound board and soldering iron.
Lim distinguished himself at Berklee as part of the Berklee Interdisciplinary Arts Institute, where he traveled internationally under the tutelage of artistic director Neil Leonard, putting his technical and musical skills to work realizing a wide array of interdisciplinary arts projects.
He has founded a company with fellow alumnus Andrew Ikenberry ’13 to build and sell the Nebulae, their proprietary modular synthesizer, and continues to work on his own music.
Rob Hochschild | January 21, 2014
Argentinian composer and pianist Guillermo Klein '94 makes music that is "occasionally Ellingtonian, occasionally classical, and always beautiful," according to PopMatters. Klein has led his own big bands and small combos since graduating from Berklee and released several lauded discs for Sunnyside Records.
Klein's first move, post-Berklee, was to form a 17-piece band in New York that quickly became known for its inventive sound. In a review of his 2012 disc, Carrera, Downbeat cited Klein's "idiosyncratic balladry" and efforts "steering his acclaimed ensemble toward even more individualistic ways to express itself."
Now based in Argentina, Klein returns to Berklee on January 29, 2014 to perform with a few of his musical collaborators and a Berklee student ensemble as part of The Checkout—Live at Berklee, presented by New York’s WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and NPR Music.
Adam Renn Olenn | January 8, 2014
Connecticut native Samantha Preis ’10 began playing the piano at a young age, but didn’t care much for practicing the music she was given. Instead, she preferred to write her own songs, a habit which led her to Berklee’s summer Songwriting Workshop, and from there to a songwriting scholarship.
A veteran traveler who has studied and performed in Greece and Israel, in her last year at Berklee Preis traveled to Egypt on the Live! Music Festival charity tour to raise money for children with cancer. The experience inspired dreams of one day founding her own performing arts cultural organization to encourage cultural appreciation, understanding, and artistic expression.
She is currently pursuing that dream at the University College of London, where she is working on a master’s degree in cultural heritage studies, as well as touring the UK in support of her 10-song debut release, Good News.
Adam Renn Olenn | December 10, 2013
Until you’ve seen a Chapman Stick performed live, the music it produces sounds too big to be real. A twelve-string electric instrument, it’s sort of like a guitar and a bass fused together, but played with a pianistic tapping of the fingers to activate the strings, instead of plucking or strumming them. And one of the best Chapman Stick players in the world is Tom Griesgraber.
Griesgraber first learned of Berklee while taking music lessons as a high school student. After attending a Berklee in LA session, he set his heart on Berklee, but knew he had his work cut out for him to succeed there. Griesgraber began taking courses at MiraCosta college, and soon distinguished himself, tutoring other students, recording, and helping with administrative duties. He then transferred to Berklee, and two years later graduated summa cum laude.
Griesgraber has performed with or opened for the California Guitar Trio, the Tony Levin Band, the Dixie Dregs, Adrian Belew, Tower of Power, the Bad Plus, and many, many more, as well as playing the Grammy Awards after-party. He’s currently writing, performing, and co-producing the sophomore album by Rymo of Slightly Stoopid, and plans to tour the U.S. and Europe this spring with his duo, Unnamed Lands, with Bert Lams of the California Guitar Trio.
Adam Renn Olenn | November 26, 2013
The members of R&B vocal quartet Ahmir were drawn to Boston by their respective colleges, including 2004 alumnus Mark Robertson, also known as Sing Sing, and they still call it home.
Home, that is, when they’re not making one of the videos that have garnered over 75 million views and nearly 400,000 subscribers on YouTube.
These four young men work hard, and their hard work is bearing fruit. Their single “Welcome to My Party” hit #3 on Billboard’s Hip-Hop/R&B single sales chart; they won Billboard’s “We Hear the Future” competition, BET’s 106 & Park competition for Best Group Performance, and advanced to the top 35 on the NBC television show America’s Got Talent.
On May 20, 2013, Ahmir was the featured artist on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and is currently working on a single to be released in early 2014.
Rob Hochschild | November 20, 2013
Spanish producer, composer, and performing artist Javier Limón's just-released Promesas de Tierra features music not only inspired by the Middle East; it shines the light on several young artists from the region. Limón, who is artistic director of Berklee's Mediterranean Music Institute, wrote nine songs for the album and invited a group of instrumentalists—many of them Palestinian and Israeli Berklee students and recent graduates—to play on the recording.
According to the disc's liner notes, Limón and the Mediterranean Music Institute, with this release, are opening "a window to a new style of music far from the traditional archetypes of jazz or world music, leading a new trend towards cultural diversity in contemporary roots music." Within a few days of its release last week, the recording reached No. 1 on the iTunes Spain world music album chart.
Adam Renn Olenn | November 13, 2013
Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress Marga Lane is a true triple threat.
As a songwriter and performer, she’s played clubs from one end of the country to the other, including the Roxy and the Sayer’s Club in Los Angeles to the Bitter End and CBGB’s in New York.
In addition to her studies at Berklee, her acting prowess carried her to the Musical Theater Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and her abilities as a dancer have put her on the stage of Carnival and as a member of the dance cast for the Industry Voice Awards, choreographed by Aliya Perry.
Lane has sung the national anthem for professional baseball and basketball teams, including the Washington Wizards, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Kansas City Royals. Her independent EP Expressions has done well on iTunes, and an acoustic follow-up EP is slated to drop in early 2014. She is currently planning a college tour to support both releases.
Rob Hochschild | November 6, 2013
France-born vibraphonist Simon Moullier was in his first semester at Berklee in fall 2012 when he formed a quartet with three other internationally born instrumentalists. Vibes and alto saxophone combine to generate the group's strong melodic character while the bass and drums provide a balance rooted in neo-soul and pop influences.
Moullier's list of influences is eclectic: Radiohead, Steve Reich, Tigran Hamasyan, John Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kenny Garrett, and Robert Glasper. The quartet is one of the featured artists on the latest release from Berklee's student-run Jazz Revelation Records. The label and its artists celebrate the issuing of Catalyst in a show at the Berklee Performance Center on Thursday, November 7, 2013.
September 23, 2015 | By Curtis Killian Latin Grammy-nominated Cuban tenor saxophonist Carlos Averhoff, Jr is a contemporary Afro-Cuban Jazz composer and educator described by All About Jazz as "a dynamic fresh new voice on the saxophone." Born in Havana, the son of legendary saxophonist Carlos Averhoff was classically trained in some of Cuba's best music schools, and after completing extensive academic studies at Berklee and beyond, now holds faculty positions in the Berklee woodwind department as well as Berklee's City Music Program. Says Averhoff, Jr. of his alma mater: "Berklee is a universe of music connected to the world."
Hear the title track from Carlos Averhoff, Jr.'s 2015 debut album, iRESI, via Sounds of Berklee, and catch him September 26, 2015 at Berklee's Beantown Jazz Fest and October 15, 2015 at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
October 30, 2013 | Adam Renn Olenn
Originally from Groningen, Holland, 2010 alumna Femke Weidema met Brandon James in Los Angeles after leaving Berklee. The two quickly discovered that their shared interest in combining Americana and pop music came alive in the haunting, irresistible combination of their blended voices, and Cotton Wine was formed.
They wrote their first song on the road and recorded it on Brandon’s iPhone. Several thousand views later, they launched the Cotton Wine "Song A Week" YouTube series, which has received over 200,000 views to date.
Cotton Wine recently completed a year-long tour of the southeastern United States, and has just released its self-titled debut.
October 23, 2013 | Rob Hochschild
It's been a great year of collaboration between Berklee students and Latin music superstar Alejandro Sanz. Back in February, students recorded a cover version of his hit, "La Música No Se Toca" and produced a stirring video of their version, all with his stamp of approval. For the students involved with the project, it generated a critically important credit for their resumes; after all, Sanz has won 3 Grammy Awards, and 16 Latin Grammys.
Sanz will work even closer with Berklee students and faculty when he hits the stage for Alejandro Sanz Meets Berklee, on November 6, 2013. He'll perform on a select number of tunes during the night while various members of the Berklee community take their turns paying homage to him.
October 10, 2013 | Adam Renn Olenn
Berklee College of Music, Heavy Rotation Records (HRR), and Berklee Alumni Affairs present the seventh annual CMJ Music Marathon showcase of alumni and student artists on Thursday, October 17, from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. at Sullivan Hall in New York City. The show features rock, Americana, funk, reggae, and Latin music by the Hello Strangers, Shun Ng, Sylvana Joyce + the Moment, Sirma (HRR), Red Oblivion (HRR), Miko and the Musket, and Numasbala. The lineup is curated by the Red Room at Cafe 939, Berklee's all-ages nightclub that hosts national and local acts year-round.
Berklee's CMJ Music Marathon 2013 Showcase is open to ages 18 and up. Admission is free for CMJ badge holders and $10 for the general public. Sullivan Hall is located at 214 Sullivan Street (between Bleecker and West 3rd), New York, NY (A, B, C, D, E, F, M train to West 4th; 1 or 9 to Houston Street; 6 to Bleecker). For more information, call 212 477-2782.
The event includes free raffles for a chance to win a badge to attend next year's CMJ Music Marathon. Free copies of HRR's latest album, Dorm Sessions 8, which features showcase artists Sirma Red Oblivion will also be distributed.
CMJ Music Marathon is one of the world’s most important outlets for new music, drawing 120,000 people with more than 1,400 performers in more than 80 nightclubs and theaters. Berklee has presented many up-and-coming acts at its past CMJ showcases, including Lucius, Nini & Ben (of HAERTS), Elizabeth and the Catapult, Julia Easterlin, Christopher Barnes (Gem Club), and Golden Bloom.
September 15, 2015 | By Curtis Killian Described by the New york times as “forthright and flexible, eager and full-toned,” jazz clarinetist Felix Peikli is one of several Berklee alumni coming to Beantown Jazz fest Saturday, September 26 in Boston. Born in Norway, Peikli has toured the globe with Ralph Peterson Jr’s renowned jazz quartet, the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and his mentor and Berklee professor Harry Skoler in homage to their shared idol Benny Goodman. This past May Peikli released his debut album with the Royal Flush Quintet, all Berklee alumni, including this track Queen of Hearts featuring Marcus Miller on bass.
Rob Hochschild | October 8, 2013
These are heady times for Chile-born saxophonist Melissa Aldana. She moved to Manhattan after graduating form Berklee in 2009; began making a name for herself in that competitive and overpopulated scene; and just a few weeks ago, achieved something that no woman instrumentalist has ever done: she won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. It was the first time a female had ever won first prize in a non-vocal Monk competition since the birth of the awards in 1987.
Fortunately for the Berklee community, Aldana had already been scheduled to perform this week at her alma mater. She'll perform with her Crash Trio at Cafe 939, in a concert that NPR will air and make available to jazz fans worldwide via NPRMusic video and audio. Aldana is one of several talented Berklee alumni to perform in the NPR series, The Checkout—Live at Berklee.
This week's Sounds of Berklee podcast features an Aldana original, "Free Fall," a composition that she performed during the final round of the Monk competition.
Rob Hochschild | September 25, 2013
Students in the Berklee Global Jazz Insitute are among some of the most innovative and talented young musicians on the planet. "We are not just challenging our students to become stronger, more creative, and imaginative musicians. We want to inspire them to become mature, socially aware people who actually make a difference in our world," says BGJI faculty member John Patitucci.
On "Tres Arañas," a composition penned by student violinst Alex Hargreaves, the BGJI Green Ensemble shines. While that track will give you a taste, jazz lovers will have a chance to hear more when the Global Jazz Ambassadors perform with guest artist drummer Adam Cruz at the BeanTown Jazz Festival on September 28, 2013.
Adam Renn Olenn | September 17, 2013
Belgian bassist Sebastian Jasinski moved to Paris after graduating from Berklee in 2003 and gigged for several years before committing himself to producing his own music.
Under the moniker Lenox, Jasinski produced, composed, and played all of the instruments on his Lenox debut, Opening Act, and collaborated with a panoply of vocalists to create a record that is both varied and cohesive.
Jasinski’s single "Colorblind" is in rotation on Virgin Radio France, as well as MTV in France and Belgium. He recently completed a tour of Switzerland and France, and plans to move to Montréal to produce his sophomore album.
Rob Hochschild | September 10, 2013
As talented a songwriter as student Molly Tuttle is, music fans who have seen her perform live are immediately impressed as well with her virtuosic skill as a flatpicking guitarist and her ability as a clawhammer and fingerstyle banjo player.
But for Tuttle fans, it always comes back to the song and the voice. She's been performing on stage since she was 11, and recorded her first album at age 13. She’s appeared at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Strawberry Music Festival, Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, and numerous other festivals and venues across the country. And Tuttle has won awards as songwriter, vocalist, or guitarist from a number of organizations.
You can watch a video version of the song featured in this podcast, recorded in the studios at Berklee's internet radio station, the BIRN. The track features Tuttle, guitar and vocals; John Mailander, fiddle and voice; and Matt Witler, mandolin. Tuttle and Mailander perform at Club Passim on September 12, 2013, as part of Berklee's Summer in the City series.
Adam Renn Olenn | September 3, 2013
Before alumnus Lucky Diaz ’97 founded his nationally acclaimed Family Jam Band, he wrote and performed as a singer-songwriter. Emily Herndon of May Stands Still had been covering one of his songs during her live shows, and audience pressure led her to ask Diaz’s blessing to record it.
Herndon recorded the song with alumni bassist, producer, and mix engineer Wes Switzer ’08, who then invited other Berklee alumni to add parts. He asked Scott Bauer ’07 to play guitar and keyboardist Cole Degenova ’08 to contribute when he stopped by on a tour. Switzer then sent the files to Asha Sukumar ’07, who was teaching music at an ashram in India, to add the finishing touch with her violin.
The result is a transcontinental collaboration between alumni who’ve stayed close, both personally and professionally, even as their careers have woven together and verged apart over the years.
Rob Hochschild | August 26, 2013
The music of Unlimited Perception is as diverse as the countries its bandmembers hail from, including Turkey, Colombia, and Israel. The musicians met as Berklee students in 2012 and released its debut recording, Awakening, earlier this month.
"Unlimited Perception makes fusion music in the best sense of the word—a wide variety of musical ideas and cultures woven into a seamless tapestry of fresh and interesting sounds," says Matthew Nicholl, Berklee's chair of contemporary writing and production.
Unlimited Perception's music features a blend of South American rhythms such as bambuco and cumbia with microtones and lyrical melodies. The band will perform at the Detroit Jazz Festival on September 1, 2013.
Rob Hochschild | August 23, 2013
Moira Lo Bianco '12 is a bona fide triple threat as a composer, arranger, and pianist. Taking an organic approach to transcending genre, Lo Bianco has explored a range of musical traditions, including Indian, Middle Eastern, flamenco, classical, and jazz. Hailing from Italy, Lo Bianco studied at conservatories in her home country before graduating from Berklee last year. Her musical collaborators include Simon Shaheen, Marco Pignataro, Kinan Azmeh, and Arooj Aftab. Lo Bianco recently launched a workshop series entitled Improvisation for Classical Pianists, in partnership with M. Steinert & Sons.
This week's podcast features a track from Lo Bianco's debut full-length album, Lunaria, released in 2013.
Rob Hochschild | August 15, 2013
The three members of We Avalanche met as Berklee students in the past few years and continue to make Boston their base of operations. Guitarist and vocalist Brady Custis and mandolinist Zach Baldwin-Way first encountered each other while on a Berklee study abroad trip in Athens in 2010. Cellist Eric Law rounded out the band, which cites a wide range of influences, including Hank Williams, Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, Elliott Smith, Sonic Youth, and Joanna Newsom.
We Avalanche recorded its debut album, Time Travels, in Nashville, Tennessee, and released it in 2012. The band performs on Saturday, August 17 at Boston's Carson Beach as part of Berklee's Summer in the City series.
Adam Renn Olenn | August 5, 2013
After a decade singing opera, Berklee alumna Kim Logan traded the proscenium for the recording studio and the barroom stage. As the fourth generation in family to work in the entertainment industry, Logan is comfortable on both sides of the board and in the board room.
Now based in Nashville, this Sarasota native is performing in support of her eponymous LP, writing as a guest blogger for Lockeland Springsteen, and collaborating with filmmaker Trilbee the Hooligan and fashion designer Rachel Hesse on a wide range of projects.
Rob Hochschild | July 31, 2013
Ali Amr was one of Berklee's first Palestinian students when he enrolled at the college in 2008. Amr—who is from Ramallah, West Bank and now lives in New York—is a vocalist who accompanies himself on a 72-string lap harp, the qanun. He leads the Ali Amr Experiment, a five-piece group that fuses jazz, Latin, and Arabic music.
Amr's quintent will play the mainstage of the Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2013. One of the tunes they'll perform is "Najat 1958," a song dedicated to his mother. The track was recorded live at Berklee's Cafe 939
Rob Hochschild | April 26, 2013
Jazz pianist Caili O'Doherty—a native of Portland, Oregon—has received national awards for jazz piano performance and composition from DownBeat magazine and an ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer award. She will graduate from Berklee in May 2013 with a degree in performance.
As a member of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI), O'Doherty has worked closely with jazz greats, such as Danilo Pérez, Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne Carrington, and John Patitucci. She performs on the same stage with other students and several of her Berklee teachers at the third annual BGJI Summit, to be held at the Berklee Performance Center on April 29, a concert that will feature as a guest artist drummer Brian Blade.
March 6, 2013
Berklee College of Music, the only college to host an official party at the SXSW Music and Media Conference—one of the music industry’s biggest events—presents its SXSW Party on Friday, March 15, 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., at Brush Square Park (East Tent), 409 East 5th Street (Neches and 5th), Austin, Texas. Berklee’s eighth SXSW party is the college’s first at an outdoor all-ages venue. Also for the first time, the lineup is curated by The Red Room at Cafe 939, Berklee’s all-ages nightclub that hosts national and local acts year-round.
The party features up-and-coming Berklee, Berkleemusic, and Heavy Rotation Records (HRR) alumni and students performing rock, pop, electronic, Americana, and folk, including acclaimed singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick, David Stewart Jr., Air Traffic Controller, Chloë Sunshine, Red Oblivion (HRR), Bear Language (HRR), Rebecca Loebe, the Lights Out, Holiday Mountain, and the Field Effect. In addition to performing with her band, Ferrick is cohosting the event with alumna Sarah Sharp.
Berklee's SXSW Day Party is all-ages and open to SXSW badge holders. The public can email sxswrsvp@berklee.edu to attend free of charge. Free copies of student-run HRR's Dorm Sessions 8, featuring Red Oblivion and Bear Language, will be given away. Listen to full tracks at HeavyRotationRecords.bandcamp.com. Free oyster bar provided by Island Creek Oysters.
Rob Hochschild | March 6, 2013
Spanish student guitarist Javier G. F. Escudero came to Berklee a few years ago after studying classical music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, but the music he's making in Boston is a far cry from what you'd expect to hear at the average conservatory.
Escudero and his band provide the leadoff track on the latest disc—Ripple Effect—from Berklee's student-run jazz label, Jazz Revelation Records, and it stands out as a hard-hitting fusion of straight-up funk and adventurous jazz. The tune, "Carahuevo," was written by Toño Gutierrez and features, besides Escudero, keyboardist Rafa Santana, tenor saxophonist Chisco Villanueva, bassist Antoine Katz, and drummer Victor Alvarez.
Adam Renn Olenn | February 25, 2013
Vocalist Farah Siraj’06 grew up in Amman, Jordan and Spain. At Berklee her studies in world music led her to combine her loves of Middle Eastern modes, flamenco singing, and bossa nova grooves into something new and mesmerizing.
Sung in Jordanian Arabic over a samba, and supported by Arabian instruments like the qanun and darbuka, “Min Ghairak” is a song of love and longing from a distance with a hope of being reunited.
Siraj performs internationally in support of her records Nomad and The Arabian Jazz Project, both of which have been praised by critics in New York Time Out and The Boston Globe. Her music and humanitarian efforts have gained widespread recognition; Siraj was invited to perform at the United Nations Humanitarian Awards in New York, and the U.N. Security Council listened to her music before passing legislation regarding the genocide in Darfur.
Rob Hochschild | February 19, 2013
The three members of Bear Language—alumnus vocalist and guitarist Luca Buccellati, student bassist Archi Denis, and student drummer Ian Barnett—met at Berklee, coming together as a small group that packs a wallop with a big sound, memorable songs, and a powerful live set. Describing its music as "explosive Beatles-driven rock" combined with the "funky dancable grooves of Two Door Cinema Club," Bear Language was listed in Deli magazine's Top 10 New England Artists of 2012.
Bear Language will perform in Austin, Texas, in March at the South by Southwest Music Festival and plans to release its debut disc in April. Learn more at the band's website and at the website for Heavy Rotation Records, which features a new Bear Language track on its latest release, Dorm Sessions 8.
Adam Olenn | February 7, 2013
2009 alumna Ivonne Hernandez learned to play violin by ear by the time she was 3. She has released albums both as leader and sideman, and is in high demand as a session player.
Cellist Eric Wright distinguished himself as one of the best young cellists in Vermont before also graduating from Berklee in 2009.
Hernandez and Wright have joined up with string superstars Karrnnel Sawitsky and Trent Freeman '10 to form the Fretless, a string quartet that plays fiddle tunes in a way that sounds anything but traditional. The 2012 Canadian Music Awards recognized its virtuosity and artistic cohesion with wins for both Ensemble of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year.
Rob Hochschild | February 1, 2013
After honing his chops as a teenager in the jazz clubs of Philadelphia, alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw studied at Berklee on a full-tuition scholarship. He graduated with degrees in music education and performance and has orchestrated an impressive and multifaceted career as a bandleader, composer, sideman, and educator. Shaw is a member of the Roy Haynes Quartet and the Mingus Big Band, has performed on a Grammy-nominated album, and released three discs as a bandleader.
Shaw returns to Berklee in February 2013 to meet with students and perform in The Checkout — Live at Berklee, a concert and live radio broadcast jointly presented by New York's WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and NPRmusic. He'll perform at Cafe 939 on February 7, 2013.
January 24, 2013
Guitarist and composer Stephane Wrembel ’02 learned to play in the style of Django Reinhardt in the gypsy camps of the French countryside before coming to Berklee. His command of the gypsy-inflected jazz and mastery on the guitar earned him the opportunity to score Woody Allen’s Academy Award-winning film Midnight in Paris.
Wrembel recently performed at the Oscars, and is currently touring in support of his fifth album, Origins, which presents a wide range of musical textures and cultural mashups.
Rob Hochschild | January 22, 2013
Drummer Wil Tecla and pianist Kevin Clark were first-year students when they met at Berklee during the 2011-12 school year. The two musicians shared an interest in jazz and hip-hop music, and wasted littled time forming a band to explore their interest in composition and playing. They arrived at a band name—English Tom in the Bookstore—whose origin and meaning remains a mystery, at least for now.
In addition to Tecla and Clark, the band features saxophonists Derrick Tate and Utril Rhaburn, flutist Julia Price, bassist Mike Dyer, and vocalist Gracie Jessop. The group executed a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund an EP it released in May 2012. One of the tracks from those sessions was selected out of many submissions to appear on Ripple Effect, the latest release from Berklee's student-run Jazz Revelation Records.
Adam Olenn | December 20, 2012
2007 alumnus Joe Matzzie is a Los Angeles-based film and television composer, an accomplished classical guitarist, and an aficionado of early music.
His band Moat Jumper combines medieval and Renaissance instruments–things like the hurdy gurdy, crumhorn, sackbut, and bladder pipe–with modern recording technology to produce songs with a timeless, esoteric quality.
Moat Jumper’s album Christmas at the Renaissance Fair features 14 holiday songs played on arcane instruments in ear-catching arrangements.
December 19, 2012 | Rob Hochschild
A widely influential jazz guitarist, alumnus John Scofield is bringing one of his most exciting groups, Überjam, to Berklee to help ring in the new year. Scofield's band will kick off NPR's annual worldwide jazz broadcast of Toast of the Nation, providing one of the highlights of this year's First Night Boston festival.
"Ideofunk," a Scofield composition, was recorded live at the 2006 Monterey Jazz Festival, featuring Scofield on electric guitar; Avi Bortnick, acoustic guitar and whistle; Mark Kelley, bass; and Adam Deitch, drums. Scofield's Überjam will perform at 9 p.m. on December 31, 2012, in the Berklee Performance Center.
December 11, 2012
2003 alumna and faculty member Christiane Karam is the champion of world music at Berklee. She directs the Balkan choir, the Middle Eastern Fusion ensemble, and is the founder and director of the annual Berklee Middle Eastern Festival. Her new record, Eastern Tapestries, blends musical vocabularies from India to the Mediterranean with an emphasis on Balkan and Middle Eastern styles.
Of her original composition "Balkan Dance," she says, “Being part Armenian and part Lebanese, musical influences from both cultures naturally come out in my writing, which often stems from spontaneous improvisations. This particular piece combines a Bulgarian dance rhythm called kopanica with an Arabic mode known as bayati.”
by Curtis Killian | August 21, 2015 Avers, from Richmond Virginia, offers an ethereal swirl of psychedelic pop, shoegaze and garage rock. Formed with Head and The Heart's Tyler Williams on drums, and James Mason, James Lloyd Hodges, Charlie Glenn, and alumni Alexandra Spalding '09 (Professional Music) and Adrian Olsen '08 (Music Business & Management / MP&E) swapping between bass, guitar, and keyboard.
Olsen also serves as producer/engineer, and owns the recording studio Montrose Recording where most of their album material is recorded, including their 2014 debut LP Empty Light.
Berklee Alumni Advice - Tower of Power Vocalist Ray Greene '96 by Berklee College of Music
November 19, 2012 Fifth-semester Berklee student Bryce Milano began playing the mandolin when he was 9 years old, with an early interest in bluegrass and American folk music. A Philadelphia native, he began exploring genres from around the world, from gypsy jazz to Bulgarian folk. As a teenager, Milano performed around the U.S., sitting in with artists such as David Grisman and Darol Anger. A few months after beginning his studies at Berklee in fall 2010, he was invited to New York's Lincoln Center to accept ASCAP’s Lieber and Stoller Scholarship for his performance studies. Milano incorporates the myriad musical influences of his youth through his own compositions. By weaving in and out of contemporary and traditional styles, and utilizing unique instrumentation, MIlano aims to make music that will obscure the distinctions between musical genres across the globe.
His "Megatune" is one of 11tracks on the latest release, Ripple Effect, from Berklee's student-run Jazz Revelation Records.
In this episode, Larry Watson talks about his work at Harvard, the resilient messages of African-American music, and the power of shedding light on secrets.
Trumpeter Sean Jones joined the Berklee faculty as chair of brass last year, adding to an already very long list of striking careeer accomplishments as a recording artist, educator, and artistic director of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh jazz orchestras. He has performed and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Jimmy Heath, and Nancy Wilson, as well as with Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter in the 2011 Tribute to Miles tour.
He has released seven albums as a leader on the Mack Avenue Records imprint.
Jones was originally a drummer but discovered the trumpet at the age of 10 upon hearing Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and Amandla. Soon after earning his master’s degree from Rutgers University, he was named lead trumpeter for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra—a position he held for six years while continuing to tour, perform, and record regularly.
Jones performs on July 31, 2015 at the Newport Jazz Festival with the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra.
By Adam Renn Olenn | October 26, 2012 The world music supergroup Women of the World is almost entirely comprised of Berklee students and alumnae, including Ayumi Ueda '10, Annette Philip '09, Giorgia Renosto '09, Hinako Sato '2011, Sara Cristal Peña-Coffin '11, Noriko Terada '09, Sue Buzzard '10, and Kazuyo Kuriya '10.
With members representing Japan, India, Italy, Haiti, Mexico, and the United States, Women of the World has performed at Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Symphony Hall, presented at TEDx Boston, and collaborated with the United Nations.
On September 23, 2012, they took the stage at the Blue Note in New York in support of their debut EP, Koloro, an Esperanto word meaning “color.”
By Rob Hochschild | November 4, 2012 Bent Knee is a Berklee band that builds its sound on orchestral textures and haunting vocals, delivering a dynamic sound and presence. In addition to its original music, Bent Knee puts its stamp on other artists' tunes, creating warped and distorted arrangements.
The seven-member group will be featured on Berklee's student-run record label, Heavy Rotation Records' eighth Dorm Sessions compilation. Listen to Bent Knee's original track, "After Years of Love."
October 19, 2012
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Juana Aquerreta blends her musical roots with contemporary styles. The seventh-semester harp principal has focused much of her time recently on singing and songwriting, and the result is a set of beautiful tunes recorded in Berklee studios.
Majoring in contemporary writing and production, Aquerreta is fronting one of several students bands at the Boston Book Festival, October 26, 2012. Styles range from soul to Arabic music, and the concerts are free. Learn more about the lineup on our events calendar.
By Rob Hochschild | October 9, 2012 Larry Monroe has been a force at Berklee since the 1960s. Hailing from a small town in Vermont, he enrolled at Berklee as a saxophonist and later joined the faculty. As the years went by, he rose through the ranks, as an academic chair, dean, and, most recently as vice president of academic affairs working to establish Berklee's campus in Valencia. With programs off the ground in Spain, Monroe recently decided to retire.
Berklee celebrates Monroe's many contributions over his 42 years at Berklee with a concert, Larry Monroe's Recuerdo, in the Berklee Performance Center, on October 18. Monroe will perform his original compositions and arrangements, supported by an all-star faculty band.
This week's podcast features a Monroe original that he and the band will perform in the BPC show.
By Adam Renn Olenn | October 1, 2012 2009 alumnus Keenan O’Meara moved to New York City right after graduation. There he teamed up with fellow Berklee graduates Owen Ross, Bryan Percivall, Marie Kim, Chris Holdridge, and Megan Lui. Together these alumni have been touring throughout the northeast in support of O’Meara’s debut EP, Mania.
O’Meara and his fellow alumni perform together as The Spindle Room Band. For more information and upcoming shows, visit keenanomeara.com.
By Adam Renn Olenn | September 11, 2012 2000 alumnus Kip Jones has traveled extensively throughout North America, South America, Asia, and the Indian subcontinent, absorbing a huge range of musical idioms.
This itinerant fiddler has used his Berklee education to fuse these diverse musical experiences with material he studied at Berklee—artists like J.S. Bach, the Delta blues, and Steve Reich—into his a genre-busting style he refers to as "experimental folk," folk music from people and places that don't exist.
By Rob Hochschild | September 5, 2012
Matt Savage, a 20-year old jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, entered Berklee in the fall of 2009 at the age of 17, and will graduate in December 2012. He has studied with many eminent professors at Berklee, including JoAnne Brackeen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Hal Crook, Dave Samuels, Ray Santisi and Darren Barrett.
Savage also tours as a solo artist and as the leader of the Matt Savage Trio. He has performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, the Today Show and on NPR's Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland and All Things Considered. He has also played at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and some of the most prestigious jazz clubs in America (including the Blue Note, Birdland and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Lincoln Center). Matt's ninth and latest CD, Welcome Home, features Bobby Watson and Jeremy Pelt among others and is heard on jazz radio stations across the country.
He leads the Berklee Monterey Sextet in performances at the 55th annual Monterey Jazz Festival on September 21 and 22, 2012.
By Adam Olenn | August 28, 2012 Latvian flutist Ilona Kudina '03 studied at the Latvian Academy of Music before coming to Berklee, and has since toured throughout North America and Europe.
The founder and leader of the Amber flute quartet, her 2010 release Nothing but Illusion features fellow alumnus Vardan Ovespian, Berklee faculty member Greg Hopkins, Akili Jamal Haynes, and legendary drummer Billy Hart.
Listen to Ilona Kudina's "Nine Ate."
By Rob Hochschild | July 20, 2012 Saxophonist Daniel Rotem studied at Israel's Thelma Yellin High School for Arts, Shtricker Conservatory, and Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music before enrolling at Berklee in 2011. Rotem has performed with a long list of jazz stalwarts, including Dave Liebman, Reggie Workman, Lionel Loueke, George Garzone, Scott Colley, John Taylor, and Michael Blake. He was also a featured featured guest at a joint performance with India Arie and Israeli composer and vocalist Idan Raichel.
Rotem performs as part of Berklee Summer in the City at the Regattabar Courtyard Series on July 23 and at Wakefield Library on August 2.
By Rob Hochschild | July 10, 2012 Raised in the United Kingdom and Canada, Wilsen (formerly known as Tamsin) describes her music as influenced by the "warm folk sounds of Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, with a dash of Feist." The Brooklyn-based songwriter is preparing to release her first album, Sirens.
Wilsen performs as part of Berklee Summer in the City at Passim on July 12 and at Kendall Square and the ICA on August 9.
By Adam Olenn | June 29, 2012 According to longtime Boston Globe music critic Steve Morse, 2011 alumna Shea Rose is "that rare artist who can bridge diverse styles such as soul, funk, rock, rap, and jazz—and bring her unique stamp to each."
Rose has won awards ranging from R&B/Soul/Urban Contemporary Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards to the SESAC Performance Activity award, and was even featured on Terri Lyne Carrington's 2011 Grammy Award–winning jazz album The Mosaic Project. Rose was chosen by Queen Latifah to be the spokeswoman for CoverGirl's 2010 Ignite Your Persona campaign and in 2012 she won the Red Bull Soundstage fan-driven contest to perform as part of the Universal/Red Bull showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
Shea Rose will be performing live at Berklee Summer in the City on Wednesday, July 18, at 5:45 p.m. on Children's Wharf, 308 Congress Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts.
By Adam Renn Olenn | October 5, 2012
Berklee College of Music, Heavy Rotation Records, and Berkleemusic.com present their sixth annual CMJ Music Marathon showcase of alumni and student artists, Friday, October 19, at 92YTribeca. To learn more about the artists, click here.
The showcase will feature artists in a wide range of genres, including acts like:
Shea Rose, with "S on my Chest" Measure, with "I Want to Know You" "Fever Sweat," by Heavy Rotations Records band Red Oblivion Gina's Picture Show, with "Forget" "You Go On & On," by Golden Bloom Heavy Rotations Records band Bent Knee, with "Little Specks of Calcium" and "Ogunquit, Maine," by the Field Effect. The event includes free raffles for a chance to win a badge to attend next year's CMJ Music Marathon and merchandise giveaways from Heavy Rotation Records, Berklee's student-run record label.
Berklee's all-ages showcase is free for CMJ badge holders and $10 for the general public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. 92YTribeca is located at 200 Hudson Street, New York, New York. For more information, please call 212 601-1000 or visit 92Y.org/Tribeca.
By Rob Hochschild | June 25, 2012
One comes from a small town and the other from Los Angeles, but when Erin Casey and Chris Carlberg met at Berklee, they found common musical ground. Now the pair is writing, recording, and performing, with two free shows this summer as part of Berklee's Summer in the City series.
Herego performs at the Prudential Center on July 3 and at Fox Point on August 19.
By Adam Olenn | June 21, 2012 The songs of performer and educator Laura Vecchione '00 have placed in the Top 5 of the AMA chart and Roots Music Report, been quoted by Marvel Comics, and featured on television shows like Saving Grace and The Glades.
Her debut album Deeper Waters was quickly embraced by XM Radio, and her sophomore outing Girl in the Band was produced by multi-Grammy-winner Jim Scott.
In the run-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, she heard an anecdote about the influence of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson on Martin Luther King's iconic "I Have a Dream Speech," and was inspired to write a song about the history of race relations in America, titled "Tell Them About the Dream."
Photo by Brian Kaminski
By Rob Hochschild | June 11, 2012 Spanish pianist and composer Ariadna Castellanos, Berklee's first Spanish Presidential Scholar, has been playing flamenco in places where it is rarely heard, such us Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Born in Madrid, she studied classical music in London before attending Berklee.
Castellanos has performed and toured with many flamenco's leading artists, such as Niño Josele, Jorge Pardo, Agustín "El Bola" Carbonel, and Jesús del Rosario. A New York resident, she recently took part in a tribute to the great flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and is working on her new album with legendary musician and producer Javier Limón. Castellanos, Limón, and several other flamenco talents perform in the Flamenco Soul tour, June 22–25, 2012, the product of a collaboration between Berklee's Mediterranean Music Institute and SPAIN Arts & Culture.
This edition of Sounds of Berklee features a Castellanos original, "Tangos."
By Adam Olenn |May 31, 2012 It was a snowy evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when 2011 alumna Maya de Vitry first played with guitarist Oliver Craven.
De Vitry, an award-winning songwriter, had just returned from several months of itinerant fiddling in Europe. Craven had recently wrapped up a tour with Grammy-nominated artist Adrienne Young.
Together, they found the sensitive bass playing of Charles Muench was the perfect anchor for their voices. The trio has just released their first record, Borderland, and is touring constantly through spring of 2013. At noon on June 7, 2012, they will perform in Cambridge's Kendall Square as part of the Berklee Summer Concert Series.
By Rob Hochschild | May 29, 2012 Student pianist Hamish Napier was raised in the Scottish Highlands and learned flute, whistles, and voice, in addition to his principal instrument. After earning multiple award nominations for young Scottish musicians and recording with some of the country's leading musicians, Napier enrolled at Berklee to pursue an interest in fusing traditional music with jazz.
The American version of the Hamish Napier Band brings together some of Berklee's best jazz and bluegrass student musicians, and has played the Celtic Connections Festival, and the Glasgow International Jazz Festival. This summer it plays in July and August as part of Berklee's Summer in the City series.
This edition of Sounds of Berklee features a Napier original, "Dr. Flute."
By Adam Olenn | May 17, 2012 Since 2002, singer-songwriter Mark DeRose has been building his fan base by gigging relentlessly up and down the Eastern seaboard, recording four albums both as the Ernest Goodlife Band and as Mark DeRose and the Way Home. Their most recent, Carolina Smile, was released in 2011.
A musician and freelance graphic designer, this 2005 alumnus has played at clubs and colleges, opening for higher-education favorites like Blues Traveler, Michelle Branch, and Rusted Root.
DeRose's song "All My Life" is both catchy and moving, and was penned in memory of his late father Martin, who passed away in 2002.
By Rob Hochschild | May 10, 2012 Berklee's Summer in the City series presents a slew of concerts—many of them free shows—around Boston and the United States each summer. It's a great way for people to hear Berklee students and alumni when they're not on campus. One of the summer 2012 performers is Mozambique-born guitarist Albino Mbie, a Berklee student who auditioned during a college visit to South Africa in 2008 and is now studying in Berklee's Global Jazz Institute.
Mbie's Afro-jazz sound fuses musical rhythms and concepts from his home country with sounds from the United States and other countries.
By Adam Olenn | May 3, 2012 Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Hey Rim Jeon began playing piano at the age of four. An interest in jazz led to a scholarship at Berklee. She graduated summa cum laude in 2001, and became Berklee's first Korean faculty member in 2003.
In addition to her international club tours, she has performed at Lincoln Center, the BeanTown Jazz Festival, and on the main stage of Korea's inaugural Jarasum International Jazz Festival. Negative Proof, her collaboration with Doan Trang, won the prestigious Golden Prize in Vietnam in 2007.
Jeon has been a guest clinician at the New England Conservatory and the Seoul Jazz Academy in South Korea. Joining her on her albums are Dave Liebman, Terri Lyne Carrington, James Genus, and Richie Barshay.
By Rob Hochschild | February 3, 2014 A key reason that Berklee's YouTube channel reached 2 million views last week was a series of videos highlighting student performers. One of them captured an October 2013 performance led by student bassist, vocalist, and songwriter Alissia Benveniste and her band on an original funk tune, "Let It Out," in the Berk Recital Hall. Less than four months since its release, the video—featuring Benveniste at the front and accompanied by a well-choreographed collection of instrumentalists and vocalists—has been viewed about 220,000 times.
Benveniste was born in 1991 in Geneva, Switzerland and grew up in Milan, Italy before moving to Boston at the age of 18 to study at Berklee, after earning a scholarship at the Berklee at Umbria Jazz Clinics. She has performed in a number of high-profile concerts on campus and off.
Watch the Alissia Benveniste video and others on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggPooXtzUD0&feature=share&list=PLG0f76gvWfh94PY9JO4bcx7Kp2YdAfJZ8
By Rob Hochschild | April 30, 2012 Berklee's Music Production and Engineering Department annually releases a CD of the finest work recorded by students in the year gone by. Two about-to-graduate students played key roles in "Tonight I'm Gonna Change the World," a song written and sung by Apoena Frota, a second-year student from Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The two seniors are Pete Jacobs, an MP&E major who produced the track, and guitarist Andre Vasconcelos.
While this podcast features Frota as a solo artist, he, Jacobs, and Vasconcelos are three of the members of Dirty Blind, a band that's been grabbing a lot of attention as it prepares to open for Jefferson Starship on an East Coast tour this summer.
[Photo: From left, graduating seniors Andre Vasconcelos and Pete Jacobs]
By Adam Olenn | April 20, 2012 2003 alumnus BJ Block was working on a sequel to his album Glitterball when he met Vancouver vocalist Dawn Pemberton. A staple of the Vancouver music scene, Pemberton was initially slated to record some background vocals for Block's instrumentals.
One writing session later, it was clear that these two musicians had found a powerful creative connection, and the project morphed into their 2010 release The Land of Make Believe.
Initially approached as a children's album for grown-ups, The Land of Make Believe explores adult challenges through the eyes of a child. The album, which was nominated for Urban Album of the Year by the Western Canadian Music Awards, was released worldwide through a Creative Commons license. During its two weeks on file-sharing site Frostwire, The Land of Make Believe was downloaded over 240,000 times, and earned Block and Pemberton a global following that has fully funded their next album through Kickstarter.
By Rob Hochschild | April 17, 2012 Yoga Girls is an electronic dance music duo known for incorporating elements of yoga mantras into their heavy noise and electro sounds. Current Berklee student Lillia Betz and recent Berklee graduate Dione Tan are from France and Singapore, respectively, and their music is a merger of organic sampling and grimy, distorted synth sounds. They site their musical inspirations as Trentemøller, Simian Mobile Disco, Wolfgang Gartner, and artists on the Ed Banger Records label. Betz and Tan met in Cuba and discovered a common fascination with yoga's energetic qualities, and decided to explore the idea of conveying this through dance music.
They'll perform on a conference-opening bill for Rethink Music with Karmin and Junior Boys. Other Rethink performers include GZA, the Lumineers, and Mayer Hawthorne.
This episode of Sounds of Berklee features the Yoga Girls' "Downward Dog."
July 21, 2015 | By Curtis Killian
Behind the Song "Counterfeit" with #BerkleeAlumni Jenn Bostic: "Counterfeit is a song of deceit, uncovering the true colors of someone or something that has misinterpreted the truth. Whether it be a lover or a negative voice in your mind, it’s wrapped in beautiful clothing, slowly pulling you into its lie. It’s important to silence those voices and follow your heart’s desire.
"Watching this song come to life was an incredible experience. Lauren Christy and I wrote it during our first writing session at her home in Los Angeles. Two songs from the album were written that day, the other being Hurting Me, Hurting You. Every once in awhile there an indescribably synergy that happens in a cowrite, and the songs seem to write themselves. That was one of those days. Lauren’s brother Brandon Christy and Paul Wiltshire produced the track, and I’ll never forget the first time I listened to the rough mix, I had tears streaming down my face. They had truly exceeded all my expectations in the production of the song. Filming the music video was also surreal. Director, Jeremy Rush, who also directed Not Yet, put together an amazing crew of people and we filmed the video in one day. I fell in love with the creative treatment and again the execution exceeded any expectations I had. It truly is a blessing to work with talented and passionate friends."
Words & Music by Jenn Bostic & Lauren Christy Produced by Brandon Christy & Paul Wiltshire Executive Producer Lauren Christy
By Adam Olenn April 5, 2012 Photo by Phil Farnsworth 1990 alumna and Berklee staff member Renese King is a talented instrumentalist and arranger whose soulful and moving voice has been called "resplendent" by The Boston Globe and garnered her a Boston Music Award for Gospel Artist of the Year.
King has toured with the Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and many other orchestras, and was a featured artist on the soundtrack to the Emmy award-winning film Freedom Riders, which was produced for National Public Television's American Experience.
By Rob Hochschild April 2, 2012 Photo provided by the artist Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen '89 has been a part of several recordings nominated for Grammy or Juno awards, including her debut album as a leader, Vernal Fields, which earned her a Juno in 1995. She's in several notable bands, including the Maria Schneider Orchestra and the IJQ with Geoffrey Keezer. Her name appears annually near the top of the Downbeat Critic polls in the Talent Deserving Wider Recognition category. And she's performed with a diverse number of artists, including Terence Blanchard, Eddie Henderson, Corrine Bailey Rae, and Madeleine Peyroux. She also appears on drummer Terri Lyne Carrington's The Mosaic Project, which won a Grammy Award this year.
On April 12, 2012, Jensen will perform with her trio in the evening and give an afternoon clinic for students. The concert, part of NPR's The Checkout–Live at Berklee series, will be broadcast live via the web and WBGO-FM.
This episode of Sounds of Berklee features "At Sea," the title track from Jensen's 2005 release.
By Adam Olenn March 9, 2012 This episode of Sounds of Berklee features several of the fantastic artists showcasing at Berklee's seventh annual SXSW Party, which takes place on Friday, March 16 from 1:00–5:30 p.m. at 208 East 6th Street in Austin, Texas.
The party is 21+ and open to SXSW badgeholders. Additionally, the general public can email sxswrsvp@berklee.edu to attend free of charge.
Read about the artists involved here: https://www.berklee.edu/news/4257/podcast-2012-sxsw-roundup
By Rob Hochschild March 2, 2012 The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra merges the creativity and discipline of film composition and the without-a-net experience of live-to-picture performance. Faculty member Sheldon Mirowitz teaches a course—Scoring Silent Films—in which the Film Scoring Department's best students compose scene-specific cues based on original themes developed by Mirowitz. Intensive work takes place throughout the 15-week semester, continuing with rehearsals with top student musicians and culminating in a public, live-to-picture performance.
This episode of Sounds of Berklee features "Rebellion," a piece composed by student Michael Oldham for a section of Sergei Eisenstein's epic 1925 film Battleship Potemkin during which shipmates launch a mutiny. "It is a thrilling part of the film, and great bit of writing," says Mirowitz. "The 10-piece band plays the demanding cue with power, excitement, and precision."
The BSFO performs the newly composed score on Friday, March 9, at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, in Washington, D.C.
By Adam Olenn February 27, 2012 1999 film scoring alumnus Kishi Bashi has toured with Sondre Lerche, Alexi Murdoch, and of Montreal, not to mention the splash he made with his previous band, Jupiter One.
A versatile musician, he has found success in many roles: violinist, composer, producer, and now as multi-lingual singer-songwriter Kishi Bashi.
In addition to blending English and Japanese lyrics, Kishi Bashi writes primarily on the violin, and performs all the instruments on his record 151a. A composer with a lush and cinematic sensibility, Kishi Bashi pushes the envelope beyond typical coffeehouse arrangements.
July 10, 2015 by Curtis Killian After winning a scholarship to Berklee at the Umbria Jazz Festival, Italian singer Alessandra Bosco honed her jazz and classical techniques and has since expanded into the avant-garde after discovering radical vocal improvisers like Diamanda Galas and Meredith Monk. Bosco says she was deeply changed by her Berklee experience, which she called "a beautiful sharing of thoughts, personal experiences, friendship and work opportunities.”
Inspired by sacred traditions such Sufi chants and shamanic icaros, here’s a vocal extemporary composition from Alessandra Bosco.
By Rob Hochschild February 21, 2012 Voice professor Donna McElroy is one of Berklee's—and Boston's—most electrifying performers. Having commanded the stage as lead vocalist during many of the college's most memorable concerts, McElroy returns to the BPC stage on February 26 for The Great American Songbook: Music of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. Other performers on the bill include alumnus Julian Lage and faculty members Livingston Taylor and Matt Glaser.
McElroy has worked as an arranger and/or background vocalist on several gold and platinum releases, including Reba McEntire's "Why Haven't I Heard From You," Garth Brooks's "We Shall Be Free," and Amy Grant's "House of Love."
This episode of Sounds of Berklee features McElroy singing lead on Duke Ellington's "I'm Just a Lucky So and So," from Berklee's 2006 American Songbook Concert.
By Adam Olenn January 30, 2012
The punk-ska yeomen of Big D and the Kids Table have been touring almost nonstop since the nine founding members graduated from Berklee in the late '90s.
Playing up to 220 shows a year, Big D and the Kids table has earned its accolades one fan at a time, with a strictly do-it-yourself work ethic. And it's paid off big-time.
Big D and the Kids Table has toured with Rancid, Flogging Molly, the Suicide Machines, and the Dropkick Murphys and played every Warped tour since 2003. Kevin Lyman, founder of the Warped Tour, says of the band, "They've been around for 14 years, and each year they're still relevant."
By Rob Hochschild January 24, 2012
Whether reinventing jazz standards, breathing fresh life into classical repertoire, or premiering its own original works, Tre Corda generates a compelling sound all its own. The group's three instrumentalists are Berklee faculty members, coming together in an environment where they are free to explore their own creative paths—independently and collectively—and are able to do so independent of boundaries and categories that limit musical expression.
Cellist Eugene Friesen's dynamic rhythms and incredible array of bowing and plucking techniques, trumpeter Greg Hopkins's virtuosic leaps and outrageous genre-bending phrases, and pianist Tim Ray's lyric melodicism and two-fisted pyrotechnics provide a wealth of refreshing surprises to their audiences.
Bob Boilen of NPR Music, recently visited Berklee, along with cohost Stephen Thompson, to hang out with students, faculty, and staff to listen to—and talk about—music. During a conversation at Berklee with Rob Hochschild, director of communications, Boilen talked about the evolution of All Songs Considered, being at Berklee, and the fact that what makes a song good is the same thing as what makes a podcast good.
berklee.edu/news/NPR-Berklee-Listening-Party
June 23, 2015 Listen to the title track from Motif by the Greg Abate Quartet featuring Berklee faculty members Tim Ray, John Lockwood, and Mark Walker, out now on Whaling City Sound Records.
After graduating Berklee, jazz saxophonist, flautist and composer Greg Abate '71 played lead alto in the Ray Charles Orchestra for two years in the early '70s. In 1978, he formed the group Channel One, and later played tenor sax in the Revived Artie Shaw Orchestra directed by Dick Johnson.
Abate has since ventured out as a soloist and composer in post bop, Latin and modern styles, performing jazz festivals and clubs worldwide, and since 1991 has released over 16 albums. "Berklee gave me the musical tools and foundation to become a jazz artist and educator," said Abate, who is also an adjunct professor of jazz studies at Rhode Island College.
The Greg Abate Quintet featuring Phil Woods Live At Chans, a double CD, will be released this fall from a concert at Chans in Rhode Island slated for October 3, and Abate is currently planning tours throughout the U.S. and U.K.
Norwegian bassist Terje Gewelt '87 has appeared on over 80 recordings by Scandanavian, European, and American jazz artists like Billy Cobham, Tommy Smith, Misha Alperin, and Michael Schrieve.
Before studying at Berklee, Gewelt studied at the Bass Institute of Technology in Los Angeles and then privately with electric bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius.
Gewelt has released eight albums as a leader on his own label, Resonant Music, which has put out records by Espen Rud, Ahmad Mansour, Svein Finnerud, the Jørn Øien Trio, and others.
By Adam Olenn January 5, 2012 Photo by Yann Anker
By Adam Olenn December 16, 2011
Baby Atlas is a trio from Austin, Texas that Berklee bass professor Danny Morris calls "southern-fried soul, with freshness, optimism, and joie de vivre." The band includes 2006 alumnus David Jimenez and 2008 alumna Wendy Simmons and recently released its self-titled debut album.
(Photo provided by the artist) Baby Atlas: Wendy Simmons, David Carroll, and David Jimenez
By Adam Olenn November 30, 2011 Vocalist Jaime Garamella '06 attended Berklee with guitarist Lauren Stockner '08, but it wasn't until they connected with producer Tim Mitchell '05 that things really caught fire.
The energetic performances of their band, the Spanish Channel, have won over wide-ranging crowds, garnering a national battle of the bands title, a sold-out CD release in New York, and a spot opening for Tim Reynolds. They've been mentioned in SPIN magazine and were commissioned to write the theme song to which the FHL hockey team the Danbury Whalers skates out.
By Rob Hochschild November 21, 2011 Photo by Phil Farnsworth Da'Rayia is a close-knit band of Berklee students and alumni that play a variety of genres, including hip-hop, jazz, soul, funk, rock, and reggae. The leader of the group—Da'Rayia Wilson—was the first winner of the Berklee and Essence magazine hip-hop songwriting contest. She subsequently was awarded a full scholarship to attend Berklee, where she is a dual major in music business/management and contemporary writing and production.
Da'Rayia's cover of Gang of Four's "Not Great Men" is one of several innovative covers on the latest disc, Under the Influence, from Berklee's student-run Heavy Rotation Records.
By Adam Olenn November 14, 2011
Piano Department professor Laszlo Gardony has just released his ninth album, Signature Time, a blend of originals and ambitious reinventions of classic tunes.
Hungarian-born Gardony '87 graduated from the Bartok Conservatory and the Science University of Budapest before working as a sought-after sideman in Europe. After releasing his own recordings overseas, he matriculated to Berklee on a full scholarship and subsequently joined the faculty.
Of Signature Time, Gardony says, "Today's music owes a lot to the birthplace of culture and music—Africa. This album is an acknowledgment of how many genres draw upon the heritage of African music, which has enriched my own cultural experience."
Berklee Alumni Advice: Sound Designer Eugene Gearty '82 (Martin Scorcese, Ang Lee) by Berklee College of Music
Berklee Alumni Advice: Paul Riggio '98 (Film Scoring; CEO of Tunespring.com, Groove Guild) by Berklee College of Music
By Adam Olenn October 31, 2011 Field Trip, featuring Ryan Fleming '03 and Tim Paul Weiner '03 Photo by Ben Meyers Instrumental funk-jazz quartet Field Trip has just released their debut album There's Shag on Jupiter. The 10-song disc features 2003 alumni Ryan Fleming and Tim-Paul Weiner on guitar and bass respectively, and recalls some of the groundbreaking collaborations between John Scofield and Medeski Martin & Wood.
Field Trip is supporting the album with a tour in Sweden before returning to the United States to promote it throughout the Northeast.
By Adam Olenn October 6, 2011 Alumnus Marc Muller has seen and done just about everything. He's played the Super Bowl with Shania Twain and backed up household names in every genre of music, from Branford Marsalis to the Backstreet Boys.
On October 22, Muller comes to the Berklee Performance Center with his team of cracker-jack musicians who perform note-for-note renditions of the Grateful Dead's finest recordings under the moniker "Dead On." Listen in as Marc Muller '83 and Dead On perform "Till the Morning Comes."
By Adam Olenn August 22, 2011 Composer, pianist, and vocalist Neara Russell '10 grew up singing to cows in her home state of Wisconsin, but she didn't stay in the cornfield long. While still in high school, she was featured on National Public Radio for her achievements as a classical pianist. She then went on to win a prestigious full-tuition Presidential scholarship to Berklee, where she majored in composition and performance.
Russell has won an ASCAP Plus award for her original music and recently moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career as an artist and studio musician. She is a keyboardist and background singer for Sony/JRecords pop star BC Jean, with whom she has appeared on The View and Access Hollywood. Her eclectic, self-produced release Noise and Silence has garnered rave reviews in the press.
By Berklee Office of Communications August 26, 2011 Emerging artist Katrina Bello '11 is a Nigerian-American soul/R&B vocalist and songwriter from the Washington DC metropolitan area. Bello performed from a young age in school choirs, and her talents earned her a host of accolades, including the 2005 Washington Post Music and Dance Scholarship Award. She began writing songs at the age of 16.
After high school, Bello went on to study nursing at the University of Pittsburgh while pursuing music on the side. In 2007, SlicethePie.com awarded Bello a prize to create her debut album. She attended a Berklee summer workshop, earned a scholarship, and later enrolled in the full-time program.
At Berklee, songwriting sparked an interest in music publishing, which led to her focus on music business/management as a major at Berklee. Ultimately, Bello says she would like to write for artists in almost every genre. She recently digitally released her first EP, entitled The Boiling Point, and is continuing to hone her craft and artistry.
By Adam Olenn July 25, 2011 Originally from Blue River, Kentucky, guitarist Dave Reffett '06 is catching fire in the metal world.
His Grammy-nominated album The Call of the Flames is packed with metal heavyweights like George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), Chris Poland (Megadeth), Michael Angelo Batio (Nitro), Joe Stump (Holy Hell), Mike Mangini (Steve Vai, Extreme, Annihilator), and Glen Drover (Megadeth, King Diamond) and was mixed by Mudrock (Alice Cooper, Godsmack, Avenged Sevenfold) and mastered by George Marino (KISS, AC/DC, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix).
He has been repeatedly featured in the pages of Guitar World magazine and on their Lick of the Day iPhone app. Reffett also appeared at the 2011 NAMM conference to help Esoterik Guitars showcase their Dave Reffett signature series guitars.
By Rob Hochschild July 18, 2011 Photo by Douglas Levy Photography Award-winning composer Omar Thomas, a faculty member in Berklee's Harmony Department, leads an 18-piece band showcasing some of Boston's finest young jazz players. The Omar Thomas Large Ensemble also features several Berklee faculty members. The group's repertoire includes Thomas's original compositions and arrangements, several of which will appear on his forthcoming album, I Am.
Tenor saxophonist Tucker Antell solos on the Thomas track featured in this episode of Sounds of Berklee, "And When It Rains." Catch the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble performing at the Berklee Performance Center on July 27.
By Adam Olenn July 11, 2011 Bassist Matthew Rybicki '95 has performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Nnenna Freelon, Renee Fleming, Mark Whitfield, and a host of other jazz luminaries on storied stages like the Village Vanguard and the Blue Note, and at festivals from Italy to Taiwan.
Rybicki taught the inaugural bass course in the Essentially Ellington Band Director Academy at Jazz at Lincoln Center and served as musical director for Jazz in the Schools and Lincoln Center's Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities. His musical workshops at the Whitney Museum were included in their acclaimed Romare Bearden exhibition.
His debut album, Driven, includes performances by jazz greats Ron Blake, Freddie Hendrix, Gerald Clayton, and Ulysses Owens, and showcases Rybicki's compositions.
July 5, 2011 Composer, saxophonist, and EWI player Zac Zinger just graduated from Berklee a few months ago, but he's been building a long list of credits since taking up the horn at the age of nine. His band, the Zac Zinger Group, displays influences from jazz, soul, funk, and other styles. As a composer, Zinger has written for quartet, orchestra, film, and video games.
Catch the Zac Zinger Group performing for free July 11 at the Regattabar in Cambridge as part of Berklee's summer concert series. Get a preview with the Zinger original "Cerberus," a track from Octave, the latest release from Berklee's student-run Jazz Revelation Records.
May 19, 2015 By Curtis Killian In 2014, jazz percussionist Marco Pacassoni '04 of Fano, Italy and his quartet released his second album of original compositions, Happiness, featuring a duet with Grammy-award winning pianist Michel Camilo.
Pacassoni, whose primary instruments are vibraphone and marimba, has studied with Gary Burton '62, Ed Saindon, and Victor Mendoza, among others, and has performed with Alex Acuna, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Steve Smith and many more.
Pacassoni is also on the percussion faculty at Liceo Rinaldini in Ancona, Italy and teaches harmony at the Zero Crossing Academy of Music in Pesaro and in April 2014 he released a harmony and composition book "Quasi quasi scrivo una canzone..."
Pacassoni released the album Departure with the Travels Trio in April 2015 and frequently tours throughout Europe. Read more at marcopacassoni.com
By Rob Hochschild June 14, 2011 The collection of talented Berklee students and alumni in Boston rock band, Foxtrot, may be young in years, but they possess the songwriting and onstage skill of much older musicians. Foxtrot lists Radiohead, Incubus, and Mute Math among their influences, but it has crafted a sound completely its own.
And Foxtrot take its concerts seriously, describing itself as "a dangerously entertaining live band that has a penchant for startling live effects and an unforgettable light show." Read a review of a recent Foxtrot show on Berklee Blogs to get more of a sense of what hearing and seeing the band in person is like.
Foxtrot performs as part of Berklee's summer concert series. Get a preview with the tune "Foxtrot Hops."
By Adam Olenn June 13, 2011 Born in Cambridge, England, and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Adam Glasser '81 is a keyboardist, a composer, and one of the U.K.'s leading chromatic harmonica players.
He has performed with a wide variety of artists, including Martha Reeves, Joe Zawinul, Sting, the Eurythmics, Jimmy Witherspoon, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Hugh Masekela, and filled in for Stevie Wonder. In addition to his long list of performance credits, Glasser has written and performed on many television programs and feature films.
Free at First is Glasser's debut recording as a leader on Sunnyside records. From that record, this is "Mjo," Adam Glasser's tribute to late South African drummer Churchill Jolobe, with click song vocals by Pinise Saul.
By Adam Olenn June 2, 2011 Violinist Morwenna Lasko and guitarist Jay Pun met in a class called Music of India in their last semester at Berklee in 2003. The two found a common interest in exploring musical vocabulary off the beaten path and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to incubate their unique sound in this hip enclave at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Their iconoclastic sound has been a hit with listeners, and in addition to teaching private lessons, they have a robust gig schedule, including appearances at Floydfest and the Ocrafolk Music Festival.
"One Moore Farewell" comes from their 2009 album, Chioggia Beat, and eulogizes late saxophonist LeRoi Moore. The track features trumpeter Rashawn Ross '00, who makes his living as the trumpeter for the Dave Matthews Band.
By Adam Olenn May 26, 2011 Singer-songwriter Tiana Star '03 absorbed a wide range of influences in a childhood that spanned six states, Canada, and the Ukraine. Currently living in southern California with her husband and young son, Star spends much of her time touring both nationally and throughout the Southwest.
She was a featured showcase at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and as a result has been commissioned to write music for several films currently in production. NBC's Morning Show in San Diego has licensed three of her songs, and she has donated half of the proceeds from her single "I Am My Own" to ECPAT, a charity which seeks to end child slavery and prostitution.
By Adam Olenn May 16, 2011 Before millions of television viewers knew her as the singer of "Come As You Are" on NBC's hit reality show The Voice, Rebecca Loebe paid her dues the old-fashioned way, playing hundreds of shows across the country.
Her 2010 release, Mystery Prize, spent nine weeks on the Americana Top 40 chart, and she has racked up an impressive collection of awards, including the 2009 Kerrville New Folk Award, the 2010 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist award, and the 2011 ASCAP Plus Award.
Loebe has shared the stage with folk luminaries, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emerson Hart, Ellis Paul, and many others, and was a featured artist on National Public Radio's Folk Alley's Best New Folk playlist.
By Rob Hochschild May 11, 2011 One of the more than 900 students who graduated this month is Juliana Ronderos, vocalist for the Colombian group il abanico. The group was formed in 2010 by Ronderos (vocals) and Nicolás Losada (guitar), and includes members from places as diverse as Peru, Japan, and Argentina. In December 2010 they recorded their EP, Crossing Colors, at Studio G in Brooklyn. They perform July 14 as part of Berklee's Summer Concert Series.
The latest Sounds of Berklee podcast features il abanico's "Keep Calling" from Berklee's Music Technology Division CD.
By Adam Olenn May 2, 2011 International songstress Gemma Genazzano '02 has toured and recorded with artists as diverse as Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Shania Twain, and Nine Inch Nails.
The daughter of Italian actor Oswaldo Genazzano, she has claimed her own place in the spotlight, performing at European jazz festivals and American institutions like the Blue Note and Madison Square Garden.
By Adam Olenn April 8, 2011 Mark Small's music is a distinctly American blend of jazz, blues, sacred, and classical. His eighth album, Scenes, was released in February 2011.
Small's pieces have placed in several international composition competitions and been recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. His arrangement of Pat Metheny's "Letter from Home" was included by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on their Grammy-winning album Guitar Heroes.
In addition to his musical pursuits, Small is a regular contributor to a range of guitar magazines and the managing editor of Berklee Today.
By Adam Olenn March 23, 2011 Songwriters Amy Heidemann '08 and Nick Noonan '08 strip their performance down to the essentials of music: melody, harmony, and rhythm. Using only their voices, an acoustic guitar, and a Peruvian box drum called a cajón, they manage to create fully realized covers of pop hits and their original songs.
Their first album, Inside Out, was released in 2010, and they've garnered high praise from Maroon 5's Jesse Carmichael and the Boston Herald. Be sure to check out the dozens of cover songs they've produced on their YouTube channels!
By Adam Olenn March 18, 2011 The music of Israeli-Mexican guitarist Ilan Bar-Lavi rings with authentic globalism, blending Latin and Middle Eastern music with rock and jazz. Bliss, his 2009 album of original compositions, features saxophonist Matan Chapnizka, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo, and drummer Jeffrey Fajardo.
Bar-Lavi has performed on some of the jazz world's top stages and maintains a rigorous international touring schedule, performing nearly 200 shows a year.
By Adam Olenn March 8, 2011 London-born Christine Vaindirlis was raised in apartheid-era Johannesburg, but left to study at Italy's Milan Conservatory. She was awarded an Achievement Scholarship at Berklee, and graduated with honors.
Vaindirlis’s debut album Dance Mama! is influenced by traditional jazz and South African music, and features accomplished Berklee alumni including Bryan Baker, Dan Brantigan, Emanuel "Chulo" Gatewood, Hiromi, Marco Panascia, Oli Rockberger, Gilad Ronen, Chris Ward, and Mauricio Zottarelli.
Three of the tracks placed in international songwriting competitions, and the album is being featured on the in-flight world music playlists of Copa, Continental, and United airlines. This track - Indaba - features international superstars Tony Cedras, Morris Goldberg, Bakithi Kumalo, and Daniel Sadownick.
By Adam Olenn K Ishibashi and Zac Colwell founded Jupiter One after working together as traveling musicians in the Barnum’s Kaleidoscope orchestra.
Many of their tracks have been used in video games, including Madden NFL, NHL 08, Burnout Paradise, and FIFA 08. Other tracks have been used in advertisements for Mazda, the FIFA soccer federation, Payless shoes, and the MLB network.
Both their eponymous debut and Sunshower are out on Cordless Recordings, and they opened for Regina Spektor on her 2009 and 2010 tours.
By Adam Olenn February 7, 2011 Hailed by Guitar Player magazine as a "world-class [group], with authenticity, aplomb, and exuberance," Esthema is a world fusion ensemble hailing from Boston that fuses progressive rock and jazz with traditional music of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Greek multi-instumentalist Tery Lemanis, Brazilian percussionist Bruno Esrubilsky, and Argentinian bassist Ignacio Long all studied at Berklee. They are currently performing in support of their second CD, The Hereness and Nowness of Things, which Skope magazine says "marks them as maestros of their instruments and as masters of world fusion." One of the songs from that album, "Eastern Dance," climbed to the no. 4 spot on IndieMusic.com. It's a modern rock interpretation of a traditional near-Eastern belly-dancing rhythm called a tsifteteli (tseef-ta-telli), and the newest Sounds of Berklee podcast.
January 21, 2011 You've heard of English guitarists like Clapton, Beck, and Page. Well, Guthrie Govan may just be better than all of them. The instrumental rock virtuoso—comfortable in a range of styles, from mainstream shred rock to chicken-picking country—brings his eclectic compositions and improvisational prowess to the Berklee Performance Center this month. He'll hit the stage with the Jon Finn Group, an all-Berklee-faculty power trio, on January 28. Get a preview with the latest Sounds of Berklee podcast, Govan's "Fives," from his Erotic Cakes release.
December 15, 2010 Virtuoso jazz pianist Takeshi Ohbayashi '10 is a member of the inaugural class of students selected to be in the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. He and guitarist Lionel Loueke '01 perform as part of NPR's Toast of the Nation live holiday broadcast on December 31, 2010. The show will be heard on 200 NPR affiliates. Begin the New Year's celebration a little early by listening to a new composition by Ohbayashi and his group, "Find Her."
November 29, 2010 While hanging out in front of Berklee's 150 Mass. Ave. building this summer, Five-Week Performance Program student Tristan Allen had a fateful meeting with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. The two pianists hit it off, have written and recorded together, and they're giving a concert at the Berklee Performance Center on December 12. The latest Sounds of Berklee podcast features Palmer and the 17-year-old Allen on one of their originals, "János vs. Wonderland."
November 17, 2010 Each spring break Berklee students make a pilgrimage to Nashville, but this year, Kathy Mattea is bringing Nashville to Berklee. The Grammy-winning country singer presents a concert with students on March 10 as part of Berklee's Signature Series, and tickets are on sale now. Get a taste with Mattea's version of "Red-Winged Blackbird," from her new disc, Coal.
October 8, 2010 The Berklee World Strings is a chamber-sized string orchestra emphasizing improvisation and the rhythmic capabilities of string instruments, playing jazz, bluegrass, contemporary classical, and a range of other styles. On October 14, they present a concert with bassist Ron Carter in tribute to pioneering bebopper Oscar Pettiford. Listen to their arrangement of Eddie Sauter's "Night Rider," recorded at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millenium Stage, May 12, 2010, as part of the Berklee Conservatory Project.
June 17, 2010 Berklee student saxophonist Hailey Niswanger is only 20 years old, but she's already established herself as a serious jazz artist. She's shared the stage with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, McCoy Tyner, and many others. A student in the inaugural class of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Niswanger recently released a debut recording that so impressed legendary jazz writer Nat Hentoff that he wrote a profile of her for the Wall Street Journal. This summer, Niswanger performs a host of concerts and festivals around North America as part of the Summer 2010 series. The latest Sounds of Berklee podcast features a Niswanger original, "Confeddie."
June 4, 2010 Tubby Love is a Berklee student group with a mission to help lead what it calls a "reggae soul revolution." While the group's music looks forward, there's no mistaking its nod to the reggae tradition of spreading positive messages. The group plays several free outdoor shows as part of Berklee's 2010 Summer Concert Series. This Sounds of Berklee podcast features the Tubby Love tune, "Constant Motion."
May 21, 2010 Versatile student vocalist, pianist, and guitarist Julia Easterlin released two albums at the age of 17, one a jazz disc and the other folk-rock. While a member of the Grammy Jazz Ensemble, she performed with Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers, and others. She's developing a buzz for her concerts, during which she'll often use a looping station to create and build backing tracks as she performs live. She'll play at Kendall Square and the Liberty Hotel this May and June as part of Berklee's Summer Concert Series. The latest podcast features her track "A Mild Response."
May 5, 2010 This edition of Sounds of Berklee recognizes the student musicians who help make their classmates sound good in the recording studio. While the artist and songwriter Brianne Crawford clearly has loads of talent, her song comes to life at the hands of music production and engineering majors Avi Gunther and Tom Kain, who produced and engineered the recording, respectively. Gunther and Kain, both seniors, will join 860 Berklee graduates at the 2010 commencement. The track they recorded, "Aeroplane (Flipped It)," is featured on the new Music Technology Division production projects CD, MTCD:10.
April 28, 2010 Berklee's student-run record label Jazz Revelation Records released its seventh compilation album, Birds of a Feather, in April. The disc features 11 young jazz artists from around the globe—each leading a band performing original compositions. The scope of the CD is wide-ranging, with artists performing styles including traditional and contemporary jazz, nu-jazz, fusion, and jazz with experimental, classical, world, electronica, ambient, and funk influences. One of the composer/bandleaders is Israel-born alto saxophonist Lihi Haruvi, who has performed with Jeff "Tain" Watts and Joel Frahm. This Sounds of Berklee podcast features Haruvi and her band on the track "On the Way Back."
March 24, 2010 Nearly 25 percent of all Berklee students hail from countries outside the United States. The musical melting pot leads to fusions of countless contepmorary styles, and there's one Berklee concert every year where those global influences are front and center - the International Folk Music Festival. The 2010 festival features student and faculty artists from 11 countries. One of them is student vocalist and composer Tais Alvarenga, who will perform music from her home country of Brazil. On March 25 Alvarenga will lead a group in a medley of compositions by three Brazilian composers, but this podcast features one of Alvarenga's original compositions, "Trafego."
By Berklee Office of Communications March 16, 2010 Several bands featuring Berklee students and alumni are off for Austin, Texas, this month, as the college returns to the South by Southwest Music Conference. Several of the artists are student groups that have recorded on Berklee's student-run label, Heavy Rotation Records. Many up-and-coming artists have appeared on HRR compilations, including St. Vincent (as Annie Clark) and members of Passion Pit (as the Peasantry). This year student Ann Driscoll makes the trek. "Ringmaster" is one of two Driscoll tunes appearing on Dorm Sessions 7, the latest HRR release.
By Berklee Office of Communications March 1, 2010 Berklee faculty members Livingston Taylor, Donna McElroy, and George W. Russell Jr. are among several artists performing in Berklee's Concert for Haiti in February. The concert will also feature the Berklee Reggae Ensemble, a cappella group Pitch Slapped, Women of the World, and an ensemble from OAMEC, an organization that provides free music education to Haitian children. Taylor, a Berklee faculty member, will perform a set including this podcast's feature track, "Never Lose Hope," from his 2009 release, Last Alaska Moon.
By Berklee Office of Communications February 12, 2010 This year, Berklee's Africana Studies music programming brings together musicians from all over the world. One of the guest artists featured during the Roots and Reason concert series is EMI recording artist, guitarist, and Berklee alumnus Lionel Loueke '01. Loueke grew up in Benin, West Africa, and his new album, Karibu, combines West African roots traditions with jazz. "Soul Sound" features Loueke on solo guitar.
By Berklee Office of Communications January 27, 2010 This year, Berklee's Africana Studies music programming celebrates the richness of America's roots music traditions. One of the guest artists featured during the Roots and Reason concert series is Mississippi Delta blues guitarist Ben Payton. Payton spent years on the Chicago blues scene, playing with artists such as Eddie Shaw and Junior Wells. After returning to his home state of Mississippi, Payton reunited with his Delta-style blues roots. "Boogie Child" is from his latest release, Diggin' Up Old Country Blues.
By Berklee Office of Communications October 16, 2009 Cuba-born drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto has been a dynamic force on both the jazz and Latin music scenes since moving to New York ten years ago. He's been nominated for Grammys and played with artists like Chuco Valdes, Michel Camilo, and Don Byron.
Prieto brings his Si o Si Quartet to Cafe 939 for two concerts this month as part of Marsalis Berklee Jams. The quartet will also share the stage with Berklee students during two jam sessions. Check out the leadoff track from their new recording, "Si o Si."
By Berklee Office of Communications September 3, 2009 Berklee alumnus and saxophonist Donald Harrison is the originator of the nouveau swing style, which merges acoustic swing with modern r&b, second-line, hip-hop, New Orleans roots music, and reggae rhythms. Harrison has played with many of the big names in jazz, but he has also discovered and nurtured talented up-and-comers like Christian Scott, Mark Whitfield, Dwayne Burno, Christian McBride, Cyrus Chestnut, and rap icon the Notorious B.I.G.
Harrison is one of more than a dozen artists performing in the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival's free outdoor show on September 26, 2009. Ticketed events also feature musicians Jane Bunnett, Kurt Elling, Ahmad Jamal, Branford Marsalis, and David Sanborn. Learn more at beantownjazz.org.
This month's podcast features the Harrison tune "Water Meter."
By Berklee Office of Communications August 4, 2009 Drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington always seems to be ahead of the curve. She began her Berklee studies at the age of 13 and was touring with jazz legends like Clark Terry before she was out of her teens. After more than 20 years of touring with luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, and Cassandra Wilson, she returned to her alma mater to join the faculty.
Carrington's debut CD, which featured Carlos Santana, Grover Washington Jr., and Dianne Reeves, earned a Grammy nomination. This month's podcast is a tune—"Sherwood Forest"—from her latest release, More to Say (Real Life Story: Next Gen). The track also features her cowriter George Duke on keyboards and bassist Christian McBride.
Carrington headlines with her group at this month's Jazz at the Fort concert.
By Berklee Office of Communications June 3, 2009 Poignant songs and masterful musicianship come together in the music of Nini & Ben, a duo that accentuates its acoustic sound with gritty slide guitar and pedal steel.
Nini & Ben has spent years performing all over Europe and Australia, writing songs, and falling in love with the gypsy life style. Having been cowriters since their teenage years, Nini Fabi and Ben Gebert came to Berklee to raise their music another few notches, and it appears to be paying off. Two song of theirs, including this month's podcast feature, "Mother," are featured on the latest disc from Berklee's student-run Heavy Rotation Records. The group has just finished recording its first full length album at Avatar Studios, in New York, to be released in the summer of 2009.
Among the many shows Nini & Ben are performing this year are two events that are part of Berklee's annual Summer Concert Series.
May 8, 2009 Student Cole DeGenova—a pianist, vocalist, songwriter, percussionist, and poet from Chicago—studied classical, jazz, blues, Cuban, and Brazilian percussion, but was also influenced by neo-soul and hip-hop. He has performed with or opened for some of Chicago's top artists, including Kurt Elling, Patricia Barber, Jon Faddis, and Corey Wilkes.
DeGenova toured the Midwest with Hal Reed and the Mob, and in Switzerland with his original funk/r&b band Apollo Jones. His latest project is a funk, neo-soul, blues, and jazz group called the People's Republic. The group plans to release its debut EP this summer, not long after it performs as part of Berklee's annual Summer Concert Series.
By Berklee Office of Communications January 30, 2009 Dorm Sessions 6, the latest release from Berklee's student-run label, Heavy Rotation Records, features the original songs of nine innovative student bands, including the melodic rock of Model Cars. Pianist/violinist Claudio Olachea began putting together the band in 2006 by looking for bandmates who would help him create intelligent indie rock with strong grooves, melodies, and vocal harmonies. His quest led him to his three talented bandmates: guitarist Matt Berger, bassist Mike day, and drummer Kevin Lynch. "Don't Go Run Away" is one of two tracks Model Cars recorded for Dorm Sessions 6. The album features a wide range of styles, from funk and hip-hop to rock and folk. Hear the bands perform live at the CD release party at the Berklee Performance Center on February 4.
Trio Holiday Mountain, a self-described "dance psych pop workout," has been defying genres since forming in Berklee in 2011. Composed of alumni Laura Patiño '12 (vocals, synthesizers), former Five-Week Summer Performance Program student Zander Kagle (drums, electronic percussion), and Bradley Will '09 (synthesizers, electric bass, vocals), the Austin transplants were recently featured in Spin magazine, which streamed their new E.P., You Be You, Part One, calling it an "all-encompassing pop record that sounds like a mutant fusion of Deee-Lite, of Montreal, and Brazilian Girls." Currently on tour in support of its new release, Holiday Mountain is playing Cafe 939 on May 16, 2015, and can be seen at clubs and festivals throughout North America this year, including Keep Austin Weird and Utopia Fest VII in Texas.
May 6, 2015 by Curtis Killian
Around Thanksgiving 2012, after a string of tours performing with the likes of CeeLo Green and Imagine Dragons, multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter DaNiiVORY ‘08 intended to shift focus toward producing her own music. But when she received the call to play keys with Beyoncé, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. Her second gig: The 2013 Super Bowl XLVII halftime show.
“I was still on a high that I was playing with Beyoncé,” says DaNiiVORY, who continued as a member of the superstar's all-female backing band the Suga Mamas in the ensuing Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. “The energy of that stadium was incredible that night, because we're in the middle of the field on this little stage, and there are 50,000 people all around us with glowing phones, and 100 dancers below us. It felt like magic in the air."
For DaNiiVORY, the magic is ubiquitous. In addition to Beyoncé and another all-female band backing CeeLo Green, she has toured with South Korean female K-pop sensation 2NE1, singer/songwriter Bridgit Mendler, and fellow Berklee alumni Imagine Dragons, and is currently embarking on an ambitious solo career.
Full story coming soon at alumni.berklee.edu
Chrissy Tignor, assistant professor of contemporary writing and production, is a producer, engineer, songwriter, and remix artist, often producing in the pop/EDM genres under the name Data Child.
In this episode, Tignor talks about the programs she's started at Berklee, the skills students need to keep up with an ever-changing technological landscape, and gives us a snippet of the new track "Master of My Monster," a song she produced in collaboration with British-based singer Corrina Taylor.
Grey Season is a band that fuses folk and rock to bring its fans five-part harmony, blues-rooted guitar solos, and memorable melodies driven by the plucking of bouzoukis and banjos. The band released its debut album, Time Will Tell You Well, in 2014, a recording that was produced by Benny Grotto, a Boston Music Awards producer of the year; and three-time Grammy winner Justin Guip, at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York. Grey Season has been touring in support of the album and recently played a South by Southwest showcase in Austin, Texas.
Two members of Grey Season—bassist Ian Jones and banjo player/multi-instrumentalist Chris Bloniarz—are collecting their bachelor of music degrees at Berklee's commencement on May 9, 2015. The other three members of the band are drummer Ben Burns—a fifth-semester student—and alumni Jon Mills (guitar and lead vocals) and Matt Knelman (guitar).
The track featured in this podcast appears on Time Will Tell You Well, and Dorm Sessions X, the latest release from Berklee's student-run Heavy Rotation Records.
April 21, 2015 by Curtis Killian New York based pianist and composer Mina Yu '12 began playing at age 4 in her native Korea under the tutelage of her mother, an accomplished piano teacher, where her prodigal talents earned her a scholarship to Berklee. With an expansive style rooted in jazz, Yu has toured and recorded internationally, working as bandleader, sideman, musical director and educator.
From her upcoming debut album "Papa's Records," released later this month, listen to "Incantation."
April 6, 2015 by Curtis Killian
Jason Rueger and Austin Nelson of the Brooklyn-bred duo Curtin released their debut album, One for the Doghearted, in 2014. Largely recorded at Nelson's home studio in Charleston, South Carolina, the album features Berklee alumni Sweeney Tidball ’03 and Andrew Tracy ’04, who also handled mixing, as well as Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen. From One for the Doghearted, here is Better Ride by Curtin.
By Lesley Mahoney March 10, 2014
In 2005, professor Bill Banfield launched a weekly series at Bob the Chef's (now Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen) in Boston's South End, featuring alumni, student, and faculty jazz musicians. Their collaboration created a new kind of cross-generational sound that fused jazz, soul, and funk while fostering an environment of mentorship.
That marked the birth of the group, the Jazz Urbane, and the seeds for an album. Banfield, the founder and director of Berklee's Africana Studies Program, combined his compositions with younger voices for what he calls a "contemporary urban feel." The result: the group's recently released debut album, Playing with Other People's Heads, produced by Banfield's own mentor, the late George Duke, and featuring professor and alumna Terri Lyne Carrington and such alumni as Christian Scott, Alex Han, Grace Kelly, and Greg Osby.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Banfield talks about the group's beginnings and evolution, the importance of being real and sustainable as a musician, and mentorship.
The Jazz Urbane will hold a CD release party on Wednesday, March 12 at Scullers Jazz Club with special guest Tia Fuller.
Producer: Lesley Mahoney Engineer: Ryan Walsh Recorded at the BIRN Studios
By Kimberly Ashton December 18, 2013 Photo by Phil Farnsworth
Michael Sweet, an associate professor who teaches video game scoring, has seen gaming grow from a niche market into a $60-billion-a-year industry. As money has poured into the field, and its technological achievements have soared, games have grown increasingly sophisicated in terms of visuals, storylines, and music.
"The video game manufacturers have realized and understood that one of the powerful components of creating a video game is to bring players in on an emotional level, and music is a really great way to bring players in," Sweet said. This audio element ranges from sound effects and design to voice-over talent to fully developed compositions.
Berklee is preparing students in the Film Scoring Department to take these jobs by teaching them advanced techniques using state-of-the-art equipment and software, and pushing them to become great writers.
Sweet, who is also a Berklee alumnus, has written music for Sony, Microsoft, Disney, Lego, Cartoon Network, and more. In this episode, he talks about the growth of gaming, the jobs available to composers, and how Berklee is educating the next generation of video game musicmakers.
Producer: Kimberly Ashton Engineer: Ryan Walsh Recorded at the BIRN Studios (25:57)
March 26, 2015 By Sophie Maricq and Rob Hochschild
The New York-based Gregorio Uribe Big Band is a 16-piece orchestra that blends cumbia and other Colombian rhythms with the powerful sound and arrangements of a high-intensity large ensemble.
Led by Colombia-born vocalist and accordionist Gregorio Uribe, the band held a monthly residency for four years at Zinc Bar in Greenwich Village, and has performed at the Kennedy Center, Iridium Jazz Club, and Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, in addition to other leading venues. After spending his teenage years in his hometown of Bogotá, Colombia, Uribe eventually moved to Boston, enrolled at Berklee, and graduated with a degree in music in 2008.
Uribe has been an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College and a commissioned composer for Grammy-winning Arturo O'Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and has performed with Carlos Vives and Rubén Blades, among others. He was recently named by the government of Colombia as one of the "100 Most Successful Colombians Abroad."
In 2015, the band will release its debut album, a collection of songs that promises to be both danceable and sophisticated, approximating the experience of seeing the band live. The track featured in this episode of Sounds of Berklee, "Caribe Contigo," featured on was MTV’s Tr3s for four weeks in the United States and England.
The Gregorio Uribe Big Band performs at Berklee in the NPR live concert program, The Checkout—Live at Berklee, on April 1, 2015.
March 26, 2015 By Sophie Maricq and Rob Hochschild
The New York-based Gregorio Uribe Big Band is a 16-piece orchestra that blends cumbia and other Colombian rhythms with the powerful sound and arrangements of a high-intensity large ensemble.
Led by Colombia-born vocalist and accordionist Gregorio Uribe, the band held a monthly residency for four years at Zinc Bar in Greenwich Village, and has performed at the Kennedy Center, Iridium Jazz Club, and Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, in addition to other leading venues. After spending his teenage years in his hometown of Bogotá, Colombia, Uribe eventually moved to Boston, enrolled at Berklee, and graduated with a degree in music in 2008.
Uribe has been an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College and a commissioned composer for Grammy-winning Arturo O'Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and has performed with Carlos Vives and Rubén Blades, among others. He was recently named by the government of Colombia as one of the "100 Most Successful Colombians Abroad."
In 2015, the band will release its debut album, a collection of songs that promises to be both danceable and sophisticated, approximating the experience of seeing the band live. The track featured in this episode of Sounds of Berklee, "Caribe Contigo," featured on was MTV’s Tr3s for four weeks in the United States and England.
The Gregorio Uribe Big Band performs at Berklee in the NPR live concert program, The Checkout—Live at Berklee, on April 1, 2015.
March 9, 2015 by Curtis Killian Founded by Greek-born singer, film scorer and composer Magda Giannikou '08, Banda Magda deftly melds styles from samba to Greek folk to Columbian cumbia. Having studied film scoring at Berklee, Giannikou has caught the attention of everyone from Kronos Quartet to Louis C.K., even singing a duet with the comedian for his hit TV show.
In 2014 Giannikou released the album Yerakina with Banda Magda, joined by fellow Berklee alumni Jordan Perlson ’04, Ignacio Hernandez ’07, Marcelo Woloski ’07, Mika Mimura ’07, Keita Ogawa ’07, and Scott Flynn ’07, and coproduced by Fab Dupont ’94. The band has been featured in Carnegie Hall's Musical Explorers Series, entered the Top 10 Billboard World Music Charts, and was named one of NPR's 10 favorite World Music Albums in 2013. Having played concerts and festivals worldwide, including alongside Snarky Puppy, the band is currently on tour and in pre-production of their third album to be released in January 2016.
Listen to Sabiá from their latest effort Yerakina via Sounds of Berklee, and catch Banda Magda live Sunday, March 15, 2015 as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston at Berklee.
By Berklee Office of Communications September 2, 2008
Faculty and flutist Fernando Brandão is one of the more than 120 musicians performing at the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, September 25–27. His septet will be among the many artists performing in the free outdoor show on Saturday, September 27, in Boston's South End neighborhood. BeanTown Jazz attracted 70,000 music fans to the free concerts last year.
The Brandão tune featured in this month's podcast is "Samba Pra Juju," title track from one of his recent recordings.
By Berklee Office of Communications October 1, 2008
Berklee student Shea Rose's MySpace bio describes her as the black Rickie Lee Jones and the female Lenny Kravitz. The Boston-born musician also has an armful of original songs that reveal an expansive emotional range while highlighting her chops as both a vocalist and guitarist.
Shea Rose's "Free Love" is one of the tunes on tap for her performance at Berklee's Women in Rock concert, where she'll open for such greats as Nona Hendryx, Terri Lyne Carrington, Cindy Blackman, and Meshell Ndgeocello.
Cordelia and the Buffalo is an electronic indie rock band led by Berklee student Cordelia Vizcaino, a Mexican-American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. The Texas native—a vocalist who plays keyboards and synthesizers—draws her musical inspiration from Mexican Indian tribes and Native American cultures. She formed the band in 2011 with classmates Yusuke Sato (guitar), Rodrigo Gramitto (guitar), Diego Diaz (drums), Dan McCallum (bass), and Dag Hanken (percussion/synths). With band members hailing from Alaska, Japan, Mexico, Norway, and Venezuela, Cordelia and the Buffalo fuse energetic beats, exotic instruments, powerful lyrics, and strong melodies.
CATB's "Hands Like Guns" is one of 11 tracks appearing on Dorm Sessions 10, the latest release from Berklee's student-run Heavy Rotation Records. The new album features music from student and alumni artists, a complilation that mixes rock, folk, indie pop, psychedelic soul, R&B, electronic, and Latin pop.
By Curtis Killian January 29, 2015
Jazz bassist, vocalist and composer Katie Thiroux celebrates the release of her debut CD Introducing Katie Thiroux in concert on Wednesday, February 4 at Cafe 939 and streaming live at wgbo.org via The Checkout - Live at Berklee.
Thiroux received a Presidential Scholarship to Berklee in 2006, gaining the attention of alumni Terri Lyne Carrington and Branford Marsalis, and went on to perform festivals around the world as a sideman and leader. She established a quartet in her native Los Angeles featuring Graham Dechter, Matt Witek, and Roger Neumann, and just finished her debut album under the guidance of her mentor, John Clayton, and Grammy Award–winning co-producer Jeff Hamilton.
Dedicated to Ray Brown and inspired by a pair of the influential bassist’s stylish shoes she received as a gift, listen to Ray's Kicks from Introducing Katie Thiroux.
By Rob Hochschild January 9, 2015
Three musicians—bassist Alissia Benveniste, guitarist Maddie Rice, and drummer Amber Baker—founded Common Thread as Berklee students in 2013. The band is an all-female collective of like-minded musicians from all over the globe, brought together by a passion for funk and pop music. The group fuses influences from a range of genres, building a sound that brings together classic jazz instrumentation with unexpected elements like recorder. The group has performed around the Boston area and recently appeared at BAMCafé Live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
The tune featured in this week's podcast, "For the One Time," features a horn arrangement penned by student trumpeter Arnetta Johnson. The track was recorded at Berklee's Cafe 939 by a student team from the Berklee Internet Radio Network (the BIRN).
December 22, 2014 by Curtis Killian
With inspiration from the likes of Hank Williams and Johnhny Cash, Girls Guns and Glory tours 250 days a year, bringing their Boston-bred Americana worldwide.
Featuring Ward Haden on vocals, Josh Kiggans on drums, Chris Hirsch on guitar and Berklee alumnus Paul Dilley of H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E. on upright and electric bass, the band was recently named one of ten new artists you need to know by Rolling Stone Country, and the Christmas-themed video for Holiday Heartache, was featured on the rollingstone.com homepage.
December 16, 2014 by Curtis Killian
The Shills have been a driving force in the Boston rock scene for the past decade, offering audiences tightly crafted grooves, powerful vocals and an expansive creative range, and were recently listed as #1 in Vents Magazine's top-ten list of Boston bands.
Frontman Bryan Murphy, who is also a member of expiremental band Man Man, and guitarist Ryan Jackson are joined by Berklee grads Dave Sicilian '06 on bass and James Zaner '06 on drums. With degrees in Music Production and Engineering, Sicilian also works as a studio engineer in advertising and feature films for Soundtrack Boston, while Zaner was chief engineer at Blue Jay Recording and is now on tour as front of house engineer and production manager for pop duo Nick and Knight.
Hear an excerpt from 2012's Keep Your Hands Busy Volume 1, recorded with producer Scott Riebling (Letters to Cleo, Fall Out Boy), and stay tuned for new musicand videos from the band in early 2015.
By Berklee Office of Communications August 1, 2008 Berklee alumnus Kendrick Oliver and his 19-piece New Life Jazz Orchestra has been described by Jazz Times magazine as "inventive, vital, and fresh." The group plays Count Basie-style swing with foot-stomping arrangements, high-octane rhythms, and an unrestrained brass section. Their take on "Wade in the Water" features Christian McBride on bass.
By Berklee Office of Communications July 1, 2008 The Berklee Latin All Stars are winners of the 2008 Down Beat Student Music Award for Best College Jazz Band under the name La Timbistica. Sounds of Berklee for July 2008 features the six-piece group performing "Centro Havana," a composition by Cuban flutist Oriente Lopez.
By Berklee Office of Communications June 2, 2008
Zili Misik is an all-woman band whose repertoire ranges from Haitian to blues to Afro-Cuban music and beyond. Most of the group's eight members are Berklee students or alumni. In the Sounds of Berklee podcast for June 2008, you'll hear "Praia," a song from the group's debut disc, New World Soul. You can also hear it live during Berklee's free summer concert series.
By Berklee Office of Communications May 9, 2008 Sounds of Berklee for May 2008 brings you the music of Jennifer "Nesi" Chianesi, an 18-year-old rapper from Cranston, Rhode Island. Her original, "Shake Up," made her one of two grand prize winners in Berklee and Essence magazine's Hip-Hop Songwriting Contest. The contest winners were selected by a panel that included hip-hop celebrity judges Yo-Yo, Pete Rock, and Roxanne Shante.
By Berklee Office of Communications March 31, 2008 This month's Sounds of Berklee track features the acoustic alternative folk music of student group Annie Lynch and the Beekeepers. "Dirty Laundry" is an excellent example of the band's unusual arrangements, which feature upright bass, cello, mandolin, banjo, accordion, and the occasional saw solo.
By Berklee Office of Communications February 28, 2008 Listen to "Lion's Gate," a song by the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star ensemble featuring some of the jazz world's finest performers and composers, including Berklee alumni Miguel Zenon, Joe Lovano, and Matt Penman.
By Berklee Office of Communications January 28, 2008 "Homie," a song by a great student band—the Peasantry—is this month's podcast. The Peasantry is one of several student groups featured on the new disc from student-run Heavy Rotation Records and performing in the label's CD release concert this month.
By Adam Renn Olenn May 21, 2014
Deni Hlavinka and Chris West had never met at Berklee, even though they’d been collaborating for years. These songwriters found each other online and mailed half-finished mp3s back and forth to finish each other's songs.
Together, they make up the Western Den. At Berklee they added musicians to the lineup, and perform regularly with Tim Reynolds on violin and Ro Rowan on cello.
Their EP Battle Hymns was released in 2013 and was followed by Midwinter, an EP which raised more than $1,000 for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
They opened for Melissa Ferrick on the Northeast leg of her national tour. This summer they’ll be gigging regionally, including a featured performance at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops, and working on their first full-length album.
By Rob Hochschild May 23, 2014
Founded in 2012 by Berklee student vocalist and composer Raquel Rivera, Amethyst is a septet that puts forth music influenced by contemporary jazz, acoustic pop, and various Latin genres. Rivera's bright and smooth vocal style is an ear-catching vehicle for her wide-ranging originals and the band's collaborative cover arrangements.
Rivera, who is focusing on honing her performing and arranging skills at Berklee, will lead Amethyst in a free outdoor performance on June 5, 2014 at Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
By Kimberly Ashton June 2, 2014
Esther Rojas left a successful career as a performer in Colombia to come to Berklee in 2012. An established bassist who gigged with national acts like María Mulata, Rojas was playing in eight groups and had plenty of work. But she felt stuck and wanted to pursue a different path.
She's now a fifth-semester student in the contemporary writing and production program at Berklee. Though her ultimate goal is to compose, arrange, and produce, Rojas remains incredibly active as a performer.
Last fall she helped put together a live Latin Grammys performance featuring 30 Berklee students and Spanish star Alejandro Sanz, and in the spring she appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival with her band, Latimbop. Recently, she sat down with Berklee to talk about these experiences.
Producer: Kimberly Ashton Engineer: Ryan Walsh Recorded at the BIRN Studios (9:49)
By Rob Hochschild June 9, 2014
Sarah McKenzie is a pianist, vocalist, and composer who graduated from Berklee a few weeks ago. A native of Melbourne, Australia, McKenzie was a backup vocalist for Michael Bublé on his Call Me Irresponsible tour, and was the opening act for Grammy-winning trumpeter Chris Botti in 2011. Her second album, Close Your Eyes, won the 2012 ARIA award for Best Jazz Album. Prior to enrolling at Berklee, she studied with legendary composer Johnny Mandel.
McKenzie is one of four artists—all either Berklee students or recent graduates—who will open for alumna Melissa Etheridge at Berklee Night at the Pops, at Symphony Hall, on June 12, 2014.
PODCAST: Lindsey Grey '04 By Adam Renn Olenn June 17, 2014
When Lindsey Grey graduated from Berklee in 2004, she was arguably the darling of Boston’s hip-hop scene, singing hooks for several bands and collaborating as a songwriter with a wide variety of artists.
She then took several years away from the music business to get married and raise her young son, and has returned in yet another form–entrepreneur.
Grey recently opened a clothing boutique called ‘Remix’ that recycles top-shelf fashion items for people with symphony tastes and roadhouse money.
By Adam Renn Olenn June 17, 2014
Brockton, Massachusetts native Mike Flanagan ’08 started playing saxophone when he was ten years old and never looked back. A high-school regular on Boston’s south shore jazz scene, Flanagan won a scholarship to Berklee and almost immediately began touring internationally.
Flanagan has grown his career in multiple directions at once–as an in-demand saxophonist, as a composer and arranger, including an arrangement of The Varsity Girls’ pop hit “Be You” for the Boston Pops, and as a songwriter and producer creating his own albums.
Under the name MRF, Flanagan released Elevator Music, a hybrid of straight-ahead jazz, hip-hop, and R&B, and followed that success with Mob Music, another genre-bending album that has rocketed to #1 in the iTunes jazz category and was flagged as a heat-seeker by Billboard magazine.
Matt Nakoa '06
November 14, 2014
Before winning a scholarship to Berklee, Matt Nakoa ’06 was a goat farmer in central New York state. In addition to his talent with animals, Nakoa is an accomplished classical pianist who discovered a love of singing and writing songs, and was selected to collaborate with Grammy-winner Kathy Mattea during her residence at Berklee.
Nakoa’s 2014 album A Dozen Other Loves has earned him a place performing alongside folk legends like Patty Larkin, Catie Curtis, and Ellis Paul, and recently brought him a win at the Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk Competition.
By Curtis Killian November 26, 2014
After studying electronic music production at Berklee, Aruna Abrams got her start in EDM recording for internationally recognized producers like Roger Shah and Cosmic Gate. An accomplished singer, songwriter, DJ, and producer, she has penned a chart-topping single recored by Miley Cyrus, collaborated with dance mainstays like Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten, and is a fixture on the international dance circuit.
Listen to the chillout mix of "Still Holding On," produced by Aruna with Conjure One for Armada Music.
By Curtis Killian December 8, 2014
Self-described "Pennsyltucky-fried sister-folk" band the Hello Strangers, led by Berklee graduate Larissa Chace Smith '01 and her sister, Brechyn Chace, has been on the rise since its 2006 formation in Austin, Texas and subsequent move to rural Pennsylvania.
With a catalogue of original music comprised of American folk traditions and modern indie rock, the band won AirPlay Direct's Win an Americana Record Deal Contest in 2012, providing the opportunity to work with producer Steve Ivey of the award-winning IMI Records in Nashville, Tennessee. Hear an excerpt from the resulting self-titled debut album by the Hello Strangers.
By Rob Hochschild October 18, 2013
With influences that range from Louis Armstrong to Radiohead's Thom Yorke, trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah '05 is not only on a jazz innovator, he's a musician whose unique vision makes him a must-listen pioneer no matter what you think your preferences are. His music combines New Orleans stomp, indie rock guitar, unforgettable melodies, and social commentary. His latest album, Christian aTunde Adjuah, is a double album so packed with ideas that you may be tempted to take a break halfway through just to absorb what you've been hearing.
Only 30, Scott aTunde Adjuah has already released seven albums as a leader, and played on dozens as a sideman. He headlined at last month's Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, and took the time while he was in town to chat about his latest recording, the current state of the industry, and the myriad ways the culture of his hometown New Orleans is evolving these days. He also reflected on a master class and clinic he gave for Berklee students while in Boston.
Although he left Berklee years ago, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah—whose uncle Donald Harrison also attended the college—remains close to the college community, often referring to the people on campus as his "family." Learn more about this intense, articulate, and passionate musician on Inside Berklee.
Producer: Rob Hochschild Engineer: Ryan Walsh Recorded at the BIRN Studios
About This Page By Lesley Mahoney July 8, 2013
Guitar professor David Fiuczynski directs Berklee’s Planet MicroJam Institute, which engages in the study of microtonal harmonies that go beyond the 12-tone Western chromatic scale and uses these to create a new musical language. The idea, Fiuczynski says, is to create music that “sounds like a Gauguin painting—a raw, powerful, and extremely colorful mix of Eastern and Western elements.
With Berklee’s robust international student population, a large proportion of which brings a non-Western music background, the college is fertile ground for exploring and experimenting with microtonal harmonies and mixing them with other sounds.
In this episode of Inside Berklee, Fiuczynski talks about this musical system that captures notes that don’t fall within the 12-tone scale and how Berklee is poised to shape a new frontier.
Produced by Lesley Mahoney
Engineered and edited by Berklee student Ryan Walsh
AUDIO from Don Was: A Producer's Most Important Lesson About This Page By Rob Hochschild November 7, 2008
Over the four decades he's worked as a record producer, Don Was has worked with artists such as Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, the B-52s, Amos Lee, Ziggy Marley, and the Rolling Stones. He won the 1994 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year and he produced a documentary about the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Plus, the Detroit native is coleader of Was (Not Was), a band that fuses funk, r&b, rock, soul, pop, dance music, and other styles in a seamless blend that has yielded hits like "Walk the Dinosaur" and "Spy in the House of Love."
And then, last month, he spent a week working closely with Berklee's music production and engineering majors. It was an experience that Was said will "recharge" his work as a producer.
During his time on campus, Was gave an open clinic for students, staff, and faculty; met individually with student producers; and visited several classes.
Was also granted a long, in-depth interview, during which he talked about many music-related subjects, including qualities of good producers, the state of the industry, and what it takes for bands to succeed in the studio.
Photo by Phil Farnsworth: Don Was takes questions from students and faculty in Berklee's Studio A.
Great Caesar is a Brooklyn-based collaborative that aims to create music about things that really matter: love, legacy, and the complexity of human relationships. They started as a high school jazz trio in Madison, CT, and kept their musical friendship alive through six years of college, including Berklee College of Music for saxophonist Stephen Chen ’10.
In 2010, the band moved to New York City, in the tide of stories and humanity of the Big Apple, they crafted "Don't Ask Me Why." Given audiences’ positive reaction to the song, they approached filmmaker Alex Colby, who created a bold video juxtaposing the civil rights movement of the 1960s with today’s fight for LGBT equality.
With big ideas for set pieces, a large cast and sweeping visuals, the video was an undertaking far beyond anything the band had previously attempted, and when an investor dropped out after the project had already begun rolling, the band turned to Kickstarter to and raised over $50,000–far past their goal of $35,000–to complete the project.
Upworthy.com premiered the video on MLK day 2014, and it was quickly shared by supporters including Russell Simmons, Deepak Chopra, Wyclef Jean, Arsenio Hall, Superbowl champion Brendon Ayanbadejo, and countless others, and has amassed over 230,000 views on Youtube.
Great Caesar has been gearing up for the release of a self-titled EP produced by Griffin Rodriguez (Beirut, Modest Mouse, A Hawk and a Hacksaw). The EP is set to release at the Daybreaker morning dance party (recently profiled in the NY Times, WSJ, and others) on June 17, just before the band flies to LA to perform at the TEDx Hollywood conference in search of the next big break.
By Rob Hochschild June 23, 2014
The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra (BSFO) is dedicated to composing original scores for silent feature classics, and performing them live-to-picture. Under the leadership of faculty member Sheldon Mirowitz, the BSFO has written and performed new scores for several films, including ones by Buster Keaton and F.W. Murnau. The group will perform Harold Lloyd's Safety Last! twice this month, at the Nantucket Film Festival (June 24) and at the Martha's Vineyard Film Center (June 26).
The recipient of a special commendation from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the BSFO has also performed at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts; in Boston’s Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre; and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
By Rob Hochschild July 2, 2014
Berklee student Alex Layton is a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist whose talents in all three areas have generated a group of songs that linger in listeners' minds for both their originality and emotional power. The 25-year-old—who cites among his main influences John Mayer, Eric Clapton, and Coldplay—enrolled at Berklee in fall 2013 after graduating with a business degree from Boston College, where he also played collegiate ice hockey as a goalie.
This episode of Sounds of Berklee features a song, "Wheels," that Layton wrote about his battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was diagnosed with the disease last fall and continues to undergo treatment.
By Rob Hochschild July 22, 2014
Berklee alumnus and professor Bernardo Hernandez began playing the cuatro during his childhood in Venezuela. By the age of 15 he had switched to guitar, and was working regularly, appearing on TV shows and touring the Caribbean and Latin America. In the 1980s he graduated from Berklee after studying jazz composition and arranging.
He has written arrangements and performed with many prominent artists, including Cachao, Gloria Estefan, Juan Luis Guerra, Bebo and Chucho Valdes, Rubén Blades, Nancy Wilson, and many others.
He's performing with his group on July 24, 2014, as part of the Tito Puente Latin Music Series, presented by Berklee, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, and the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department.
By Nick Balkin June 18, 2012
No other artist in history understood the connections between America's great musical styles—blues, jazz, gospel, and country—better than Ray Charles. On September 21–23, the Berklee American Roots Music Program presents Inspired by Ray: The Ray Charles Symposium, an artistic and academic conference that will study Charles's singular genius and his contributions to American music. The event concludes September 23 on what would have been Charles's 82nd birthday.
On Saturday, September 22, a concert celebrating Charles's music will be held at the Berklee Performance Center featuring bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs; jazz guitarist John Scofield; blind singer-songwriter Raul Midón; Grammy-winning composer and Charles's former music director Victor Vanacore; guitarist/songwriter Doug Wamble; and Tracy Bonham and Margaret Glaspy with the Wayfaring Strangers.
Though a series of panels, presentations, and concerts, the conference will explore a variety of topics that any serious consideration of Charles raises: his singing, piano playing, and arranging; the songs he performed; the relationship between jazz, blues, gospel, and country music in the U.S.; his business savvy (he was the first artist to negotiate the right to own his master recordings); and his identity as a blind artist. For the full schedule of events, visit berklee.edu/events/inspired-by-ray/schedule.
Inspired by Ray: The Ray Charles Symposium is presented by the Berklee American Roots Music Program in collaboration with the Ray Charles Foundation. Registration, opening Friday, June 21, is $100 and includes access to all panels and the concert at the Berklee Performance Center. To register, visit berklee.edu/events/inspired-by-ray/registration.
By Lesley Mahoney April 25, 2012
The Artist captured audiences and critics, earning it the Oscar for Best Picture and the distinction of bringing newfound attention to silent films. The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra has been carving a corner on that market, too. Under the direction of film scoring professor Sheldon Mirowitz, students compose original scores to classic silent movies and perform them live-to-picture on the big screen. The without-a-net element adds another layer to the communal movie-going experience.
Each semester Mirowitz's class, Scoring Silent Films, takes on a new project. Students have composed and performed three silent scores: Sunrise (1927), It (1927), and Battleship Potemkin (1925). They debuted at Brookline's Coolidge Corner Theatre, which commissioned the works, and Berklee took Sergei Eisenstein's Potemkin on the road for a packed performance at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center. For Potemkin, five students each conducted the reel they composed, passing the baton between reels, and spotters ensured the music of the 10-piece orchestra matched up with the picture.
The Kennedy Center audience was rapt with attention as the dramatic score punctuated the emotion in the tale of a 1905 mutiny aboard the Russian battleship when the sailors rebelled against their Tsarist leaders. While the score itself is remarkable, the synchronization to the film with such seamless precision is another feat altogether.
"It's a really good score," Mirowitz said of Potemkin. "All three of our projects are legitimate scores."
Next up is E.A. Dupont's Piccadilly starring Anna Mae Wong on May 7 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.
Hear Mirowitz talk about the complexity of composing for and performing to silent film, and how Berklee students more than live up to the task.
By Rob Hochschild April 12, 2012
By the time alumnus Matt McArthur graduated from Berklee, he had a two-pronged goal: to advance independent record-making and revitalize youth music education. So in 2009, he founded The Record Company, a professional, nonprofit recording studio that has proven to be, just as he envisioned, a haven for indie musicians and teenage students looking for immersive studio experiences. Music Production and Engineering Department faculty member Susan Rogers joined the effort, and helped McArthur make The Record Company an important new player in recording and community music education.
After a recent visit to The Record Company facility, Tony Brown—radio show host and manager of Berklee's internet radio station, the BIRN—and student DJ Gabriela Jimeno interviewed McArthur and Rogers. Learn more about The Record Company from an excerpt of that interview, edited for the Inside Berklee podcast.
By Lesley Mahoney December 21, 2011
Percussion professor Steve Wilkes fell in love with the sounds of Cape Cod a decade ago when he and his wife began recording what piqued their ears while vacationing in Truro. That would become an annual trip and the hobby would turn serious. Wilkes was awarded a Newbury Comics Faculty Fellowship to pursue this passion, resulting in the Hear Cape Cod Project. From Bourne to Provincetown, Wilkes is gathering a year's worth of field recordings, featuring everything from bird calls to train whistles. Wilkes envisions these audio markers one day serving as a historical comparison to Cape Cod's ever-changing aural landscape.
"This project has taught me the connection between being a musician and being a human being in awe of the sounds of our environment," says Wilkes, whose team along with other Berklee alumni includes his wife and bandmate, Ginny Fordham, a singer and major gifts officer at Berklee, and Rob Jaczko, chair of music production and engineering; they serve as the project's field assistant and engineer respectively. "Each of these roles is, first and foremost, about learning to listen to the world in a musical way. That is my definition of musician."
Hear Wilkes talk Hear Cape Cod and how it's changed his paradigm for processing sound.
By Lesley Mahoney August 26, 2011 Photo by Kelly Davidson
MP&E professor Susan Rogers teaches students technical skills as well as the science behind the music. Photo by Kelly Davidson Music production and engineering professor Susan Rogers saw much success as a recording engineer, mixer, and producer, working with such artists as Prince, the Jacksons, India.Arie, Barenaked Ladies, and Laurie Anderson. Then she decided it was time for something different and left the music business to pursue life as a scientist, studying psychology and neuroscience, and then music perception and cognition.
Rogers has found in Berklee a platform to combine both of these worlds, teaching classes in MP&E as well as music perception and cognition.
Hear Rogers talk about her intriguing journey from studio to lab and back again.
By Rob Hochschild March 19, 2011
Sierra Hull's career was already taking off when she landed at Berklee in September 2009. The mandolinist's debut CD was out on Rounder Records and she was on the road more often than not when she accepted a presidential scholarship and enrolled in the college's new artist diploma program.
Now in her fourth and final semester at Berklee, Hull recently sat down to talk about her world and the experience of being a Berklee student. She admits to the challenges of balancing career and school, especially during a time of increasing popularity of her music. During this edition of Inside Berklee, you'll hear Hull talk about all of it, and you'll also hear a few selections from her disc, Daybreak.
Ten-time Grammy winner Bobby McFerrin helped kick off Berklee's 2010–2011 school year with a presentation at the college's Opening Day festivities. The vocal improvisation master turned his keynote speech into an interactive experience, encouraging questions from the audience and pulling faculty, staff, and alumni onto the stage to make music with him.
http://www.berklee.edu/news/2665/podcast-inside-berklee-bobby-mcferrin
Laurdine Kenneth "Pat" Patrick was an alto and baritone sax player best known for his long association with the progressive musician Sun Ra. After his death, his children—including current Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick—learned their father had left a voluminous collection of photographs, scores, concert programs, teaching notes, and other memorabilia that illustrated not only his own artistic development but the cultural context of musicianship at the time. The deep collection is now at Berklee to be plumbed by faculty and student researchers.
In the first Inside Berklee podcast, speakers at the March 24 dedication, including the governor, Berklee president Roger H. Brown, and Africana Studies director Bill Banfield share their thoughts as the Berklee Pat Patrick Tribute Arkestra plays.
http://www.berklee.edu/news/2210/podcast-inside-berklee-the-pat-patrick-collectio
Episode 3, September 2007
Sounds of Berklee will have a Spanish flavor this month. The new track comes from Conrad Herwig's Sketches of Spain Y Mas, a collection of the trombonist's Latin jazz arrangements of classic Miles Davis compositions.
When you listen to Herwig's arrangement of "Seven Steps to Heaven," you'll be getting just a taste of the BeanTown Jazz Festival's free outdoor concert this Saturday. The afternoon of music presents some of jazz's best artists—Herwig, Mike Stern, Claudia Acuña, and Charles Tolliver, to name a few—on three stages in Boston's historic South End. Come any time between noon and 6 p.m. and be a part of one of Boston's biggest annual music events—last year's festival attracted 60,000 people.
And if you move fast, you might still be able to get tickets to Friday night's opening concert—A Celebration of Jazz and Joyce—boasting an extraordinary lineup of jazz greats, including Herbie Hancock, Michel Camilo, Geri Allen, and Joe Lovano.
Subscribers to Sounds of Berklee get a free track each month recorded by a Berklee-related artist. It's a great way to learn about where music is headed.
August 2007
Latin jazz is coming your way in this month's installment of Sounds of Berklee. We kicked off the new podcast last month with singer/songwriter Madi Diaz, and we promise something a little different every time a new tune goes out. If you subscribe, you'll receive a free track each month recorded by a Berklee-related artist. Listening to musicians in the Berklee community is a great way of learning about where music is headed.
This month we feature a composition by student percussionist Marcelo Woloski, who wrote and recorded "Mundo Por Conocer" for The New Old School, the fourth release from Berklee's student-run jazz label, Jazz Revelation Records. "Mundo Por Conocer" features student vocalist Eleonora Bianchini.
July 13, 2007 You could make a case that she's already ahead of Bob Dylan. After all, the iconic songwriter was 22 years old when he played the Newport Folk Festival for the first time in 1963. Fifth-semester student Madi Diaz, who will open for Linda Ronstadt at this year's festival in early August, is only 21.
By Mike Keefe-Feldman November 5, 2013
The musical theater program at Berklee has recently been expanding exponentially, and one of the driving forces behind that expansion is Berklee Voice Department instructor Rene Pfister, who directs many of Berklee’s musical theater productions. This semester, those productions include the Halloween spectacular BPC Screams!, the hit musical Footloose, and a Berklee Goes Broadway cabaret, among others. In addition, musical theater students recently staged a crowd-pleasing flash mob performance at the Prudential Center.
Many Berklee students have gone on to successful careers in musical theater. Alex Lacamoire, a 1995 alumnus, has won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical In the Heights, and 2010 graduate Giancarlo de Trizio has been a touring percussionist with the company of the smash musical The Book of Mormon, to cite a few examples.
However, Pfister, who is also a Berklee alumnus, demonstrates that an education in musical theater opens up career paths beyond the “Broadway or bust” track. In addition to his work at Berklee, Pfister is the founder of a successful business, Make Your Life a Musical. In this innovative model, Pfister and colleagues solicit input from clients to put together original, personalized musicals for special occasions such as family reunions. Learn more about musical theater and hear samples from Berklee productions on Inside Berklee.
Producer: Mike Keefe-Feldman
Engineer: Ryan Walsh
Recorded at the BIRN Studios
Photo by Josh Glass