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Shelly Berg

Shelly Berg is a Steinway piano artist and multi-Grammy nominated arranger and producer. His latest album Gershwin Reimagined: An American in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by José Serebrier and produced by Gregg Field (Decca Gold).

The All Music Guide says “Shelly Berg is one of the finest pianists around in the early 21st century playing modern mainstream jazz.” His recording project The Deep with bassist Dave Finck on Chesky Records is widely praised for its versatility and virtuosity with 4.5 stars from DownBeat magazine. His solo project Shelly Berg: The Nearness of You (Arbors) and a two-piano album with Dick Hyman Meeting of Minds (Victoria) are also both critically acclaimed. His album Blackbird, recorded with the Shelly Berg Trio on the Concord Records label, reached #1 in US jazz radio and garnered Record of the Year and Artist of the Year nominations (Jazzweek, 2005).

Berg was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals category as co-arranger of “I Loves You Porgy / There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from the album Rendezvous (2018) featuring jazz singers Clint Holmes and Dee Dee Bridgewater with The Count Basie Orchestra. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocals category for his arrangement of “Be My Muse” on Lorraine Feather’s album Flirting with Disaster (2015), as well as his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World” on Gloria Estefan: The Standards (2014), and “Out There” on Lorraine Feather’s Tales of the Unusual (2013). He was also nominated for a Grammy as co-producer of Gloria Estefan: The Standards in the Best Traditional Pop Album category.

Other recent recording and arranging projects include Seal's Standards, Clint Black's Rendezvous, Arturo Sandoval’s Grammy-winning Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You) and Latin Grammy-winning A Time for Love, Reneé Fleming’s Christmas in New York with Friends, and Ray Sings, Basie Swings (Concord).

Berg is artistic advisor for Jazz Roots at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, musical director of The Jazz Cruise, and host of the show Generation Next on Real Jazz Sirius XM. He has appeared on numerous NPR radio broadcasts for Jim Cullum's Riverwalk Jazz series.

Shelly Berg has performed, recorded and arranged for renown jazz vocalists Patti Austin, Nancy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling, Carmen Bradford, Tierney Sutton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lizz Wright, Cassandra Wilson, Lorraine Feather, Monica Mancini, and Dionne Warwick, and performed and/or recorded with a "Who's Who" of jazz legends including Ray Brown, Louie Bellson, John Clayton, Eddie Daniels, Peter Erskine, Dave Finck, Branford Marsalis, Gregg Field, Chuck Berghofer, Dave Grusin, Woody Herman, Arturo Sandoval, Tom Scott, Clark Terry, and Bill Watrous to name just a few. A finalist in the 1988 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Berg has recorded over 30 disks for the Yamaha Disklavier piano.

His composing and orchestrating for television includes ABC’s Fudge, CBS’s A League of Their Own, and HBO’s Dennis Miller Live. He has performed on television with Zac Brown, Mark Anthony, Gloria Estefan, James Taylor, Garth Brooks, Tricia Yearwood, Prince Royce, Patti LaBelle, Mariah Carey, and has orchestrated for Chicago, KISS, Carole King, Richard Marx, Joe Cocker, Elliott Smith, Lou Rawls, Steve Miller, Yoshiki, X Japan, and others.

Film orchestration work includes Warner Bros. Almost Heroes and For Your Consideration, Fox’s Men of Honor, and the NBC mini-series The ’60s. He has written for the Royal Philharmonic, the American Symphony, and orchestras worldwide. He composed the theme song to the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival, and orchestrated Anniversary for the 10th anniversary of the coronation of Japan’s Emperor Akihito. His orchestrations are called “magnificent. . . incredible” by Johnny Mandel.

Shelly Berg is the dean of the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, a position he has held since June 2007. In addition to his leadership role as dean, he is the Patricia L. Frost Professor of Music and teaches classical improvisation classes and private piano students. He previously held the McCoy/Sample endowed professorship of jazz studies in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California where he taught for 16 years. He is a past president of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), and was named 2003 Educator of the Year by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. In 2002, Shelly was the recipient of the IAJE Lawrence Berk Leadership Award. In 2000, the Los Angeles Times named him one of three “Educators for the Millennium.” He has appeared as a performer and lecturer throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and Israel.

Berg has numerous compositions for jazz ensemble in publication, and his texts include the Chop-Monster improvisation series, Essentials of Jazz Theory, and Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Directors (Alfred Publishing), and Jazz Improvisation: The Goal-Note Method (Kendor Music). Show less

Lorraine Feather's Language Turns A Witty Phrase

by Ken Dryden
March 31, 2023

I got to know Lorraine Feather through reviewing several of her CDs, amazed by her gifts as a lyricist and singer, who was equally at home with witty songs and tender ballads. I first met Lorraine when she was performing at the late lamented Manhattan club Danny's Skylight Room with pianist Shelly Berg. We would chat during IAJE conferences and I was delighted when she invited me to write the liner notes for this CD. This release stands the test ...

Album Review

Chris Walden: Missa Iubileum Aureum: Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass

Read "Missa Iubileum Aureum: Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 30, 2022

First things first: there is no doubt that Chris Walden's reverential Missa Iubileum Aureum ("Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass") is beautifully written and wonderfully performed by the LMR Jazz Orchestra, St. Dominick's Schola Cantorum and cantors Kurt Elling and Tierney Sutton. Is it jazz? That is another question, one not so easily answered. While there are elements of jazz, they are incidental and generally overshadowed by the more doctrinal aspects of what is essentially an homage to devotion and piety. And ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Ella 100 Live at the Apollo

Read "Ella 100 Live at the Apollo" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
April 26, 2020

To be taken back in time within the scope of a period piece movie has long been a staple. Some journeys feel much more real than others, but the concept is commonplace. Venturing into the past with only the audio of a CD or record is, as they might have said back in 1934, “a whole different kettle of fish." A live audience first laid eyes and ears on this 100th birthday celebration honoring the sensational Ella Fitzgerald (born on ...

Album Review

Shelly Berg and David Finck: The Deep

Read "The Deep" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
July 4, 2017

So it happens that pianist Shelly Berg and bassist David Finck were hired by Chesky Records to play on a Livingston Taylor album. After they finished that session, with the high-end audiophile equipment still in place, David Chesky suggested the two stay and make a duo album themselves. And so they did, virtually on the spot. Since Berg and Finck play so well together, and know a lot of tunes, it was easy to come up with a ...

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Album Review

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

Read "Noir Blue" reviewed by Martin Longley

by Martin Longley
May 13, 2010

In his liner notes, saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski reveals that after hitting fifty, he had no desire to make albums that are going through the motions of record company requirements. Not that such bodies are lately in a position to demand anything. He now intends to make recordings when the inspiration is strong and when the circumstances align in an encouraging fashion. A major part of this disc's genesis seems to be the rapport that Peplowski shares with pianist Shelly Berg. ...

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Album Review

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

Read "Noir Blue" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
April 24, 2010

Ken Peplowski has much to say; not in the sense that he jabbers incessantly, as many men with horns (and embouchures for hire) sometimes do. However, in erudite and leaping ululations, and in warm, wafting glissandos he sings of the gaiety and sadness of life. This he does through clarinet or tenor saxophone, depending on the echo and longevity he wishes his harmonic monologues to have. An old soul, with a spectacular perspective on the past, Peplowski lives in a ...

374

Album Review

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

Read "Noir Blue" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 10, 2010

Noir Blue is a slight coloring outside the lines for clarinetist/saxophonist Ken Peplowski. His most recent recordings (with Arbors and Nagel Heyer) have focused on older swing forms and repertoire. Presently, Peplowski is playing pure jazz quartet music with pianist Shelly Berg, bassist Jay Leonhart, and drummer Joe La Barbera. The song choice is anything but standard, thought it never ventures too far from Peplowski's comfort zone.

Noir Blue is heavy on the Ellington/Strayhorn book, clocking in with a third ...

Event

The JAS Academy Presented By Jazz Aspen Snowmass In Collaboration With The Frost School Of Music At The University Of Miami Expands To 4 Weeks & 2 Summer Sessions

Source: EastWest Media
June 10, 2021

JAZZ GREATS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR (7)-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER CHRISTIAN McBRIDE TO BE JOINED BY MULTI-GRAMMY NOMINEE FROST DEAN SHELLY BERG & FROST FACULTY IN RECENTLY EXPANDED PROGRAM TO BRING 44 STUDENT MUSICIANS TO ASPEN FOR SUMMER RESIDENCIES In 2021 Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) will expand its mid-summer JAS Academy collaboration with the Frost School of Music (FSoM) at the University of Miami to include the new “Combo/Small Ensemble Sessions.” This two-week intensive workshop taking place July 11-25, will be followed ...
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Education

Keith Jarrett’s Famed Composition “last Solo Final Impromptu” Launches The Frost School Of Music’s New Teaching Video Series Frost Music Masters

Source: EastWest Media
January 13, 2019

The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami is proud to announce the launch of a new video series Frost Music Masters. This exciting project explores intricate musical conundrums, featuring members of our award-winning Frost School of Music faculty, giving tips and showing techniques for those wanting to take on challenging works. The first video of the series, which officially launches, January 15, 2019 takes on legendary jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s famed composition “Last Solo Final Impromptu,” a ...
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Performance / Tour

Miami's Jazz Roots Concert Series with New Artistic Advisor Shelly Berg

Source: All About Jazz
July 16, 2016

November 4, 2016 through April 7, 2017 The JAZZ ROOTS annual six-part concert series held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for The Performing Arts, has become a musical institution in the jazz world often credited with helping to revitalize, nurture and spur the expansion of Jazz music in the south Florida area and beyond. Created in 2008 by the Center and co-founder Larry Rosen, musician, producer and industry entrepreneur, who passed away in 2015, the series is known ...
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Radio

Shelly Berg On Riverwalk Jazz This Week

Source: Don Mopsick
September 6, 2012

This week on Riverwalk Jazz, pianist Shelly Berg joins The Jim Cullum Jazz Band on the bandstand in San Antonio for a free-wheeling jam session. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. The LA Times calls him “a whirlwind of motion on the piano bench.” He’s a composer, arranger, educator, conductor, and jazz piano virtuoso. He recorded with Woody Herman, Louis Bellson, ...
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Radio

Shelly Berg Plays Art Tatum This Week on Riverwalk Jazz

Source: Don Mopsick
January 19, 2012

This week on Riverwalk Jazz, actor Vernel Bagneris offers a glimpse of Art Tatum through the words of jazz musicians who knew him, and noted pianist Shelly Berg performs Tatum masterworks with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM sattelite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. Squarely grounded in the stride piano style of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, Art Tatum took solo ...
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Radio

Shelly Berg plays James P. Johnson This Week on Riverwalk Jazz

Source: Don Mopsick
May 19, 2011

Shelly Berg, pianist and Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, plays the music of James P. Johnson with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band this week on Riverwalk Jazz. The show is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, Sirius/XM and can be streamed from the Riverwalk Jazz website here. Pianist James P. Johnson is a little-known genius of American music. His style of piano playing became known as 'stride' and was a bridge ...
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Interview

Pianist/Arranger/Educator Shelly Berg Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
January 28, 2008

Although Shelly Berg is widely considered one of the most eloquent, swinging, and accomplished pianists in jazz, to date he's more famous as an educator. Berg was President of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) from 1996-98; he spent eight years chairing the department of jazz studies at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, during which he raised its profile to one of the top programs in the country. He was the McCoy/Sample Endowed Professor of ...
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Performance / Tour

Lorraine Feather and the Shelly Berg Trio at Catalina's Bar & Grill in Los Angeles

Source: All About Jazz
July 18, 2005

Jazz singer and sophisticated word-smith Lorraine Feather brings her “swinging vocals and jazzy lyrics" (Jazz Times) to a return engagement at Catalina's Bar & Grill in Hollywood on Sunday evening, July 31st. Joined by co-headliner and noted jazz pianist Shelly Berg and his Fine Trio (Concord Records), Feather will perform songs from her latest CD, Dooji Wooji, (Sanctuary Records) and earlier recordings. Known for her Captivating lyrics to classic Duke Ellington and Fats Waller tunes, Feather “glitters and gleams and ...
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Shelly Berg

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