David Berger, Conductor

I was recently hired by the preeminent Duke Ellington scholar David Berger to create a portfolio for his new website. He's a seven time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and he conducts his big band jazz orchestra every Tuesday night at Birdland. I created a studio set in the club, we worked on the street and of course, we used Birdland as well. He was a pleasure to work with, I'll post a follow up when the site is live.

"David Berger is recognized internationally as a leading authority on the music of Duke Ellington and the Swing era. Conductor and arranger for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, from its inception in 1988 through 1994, Berger has transcribed more than 500 full scores of classic recordings including over 350 works by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

In 1996 Berger collaborated with choreographer Donald Byrd to create the Harlem Nutcracker, a full-length 2-hour dance piece, that expanded the Tchaikovsky/Ellington/Strayhorn score into an American classic. Berger's added touches to the piece extended Ellington's and Strayhorn's work to nearly four times its original length. The new opus, performed by Berger's Sultans Of Swing band, received rave reviews wherever it was performed, including concerts in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and for three successive years in Detroit." MORE

a