Marlowe

David Berger and the Sultans of Swing (Performer)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 6, 2004)
• Original Release Date: October 6, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Such Sweet Thunder
• ASIN: B00065L6ZW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #308,588 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

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

In 1996 Berger collaborated with choreographer Donald Byrd to create the Harlem Nutcracker, a full-length 2-hour dance piece that expands the Tchaikovsky/Ellington/Strayhorn score into an American classic. The 15-piece band assembled to play this show has stayed together and continues to play Mr. Berger’s music for listeners and swing dancers all over the United States and Europe. The Sultans of Swing featuring vocalist Aria Hendricks have 3 CD’s out on the Such Sweet Thunder label. In addition to concert, club, recording and private work in the NY metropolitan area, upcoming tours include Europe, the West Coast and the South. Berger has written music for television, Broadway shows, including Sophisticated Ladies; films, including The Cotton Club and Brighton Beach Memoirs; dozens of singers, bands, orchestras and dance companies. Beside Mr. Byrd, Berger maintains close, long-term working relationships with Wynton Marsalis and Quincy Jones.

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

Product Description

To get straight to the point, this is some of the best big-band writing and playing you're likely to hear; the best I've heard from a new band since Thad Jones-Mel Lewis. There is a marvelous variety of moods and textures here, and not a note that doesn't contribute to the whole. This is music that one wants to hear again and again; this is not a CD that will gather dust on the shelf. Marlowe is as compelling in his musical incarnation as on the page or screen. Maybe more so, because this piece is as good or better even after you know how it ends. The music David Berger and his dedicated company have brought us here is that rarest of contemporary works of art: the real thing. Hear it well. It's got the message.

Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark.